On the Road
by Adamant Pryde
Summary: For some people traveling was a vacation. For Amber, it was her life. Always on the move, never able to settle down, life as the Fall Maiden was difficult and lonely. Still, it wasn't all bad. She got to see the world, experience new things, and you never knew what interesting things you could find on the side of the road.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Smut time, newest project? Jaune and Amber. Because I was practically challenged to do this a long time ago but didn't get around to it until like... now. Apparently we're calling this ship Harvest Moon instead of "One Job" because, well, it sounds better. Less like a crack ship and more like something legitimate.**

 **Or something.**

* * *

Life in the frontier was hard, but rewarding. That's what many people would claim, people who lived their whole lives outside the safety of a kingdom's walls. They worked the land, defended their homes, stuck together with one another. There was a very real sense of family among the frontier villages simply because there had to be. They needed each other far too much to be anything less than close to one another.

Many villages out in the frontiers sprung up and just as quickly fell due to bandits, Grimm, poor management, disease, natural disaster... the list went on. It wasn't a pretty thing, life in the rough wilds, or so one may think from the sheer chances of failure for a settlement.

But, well, those that did survive? They didn't just survive; they prospered. It was feast or famine in the wildlands, because those who didn't prosper didn't last. You weren't often going to see a settlement down on their luck and hardly pulling through, because the sheer negativity would attract Grimm like flies and the village would simply be eradicated from the constant stream of humanity's greatest enemy.

It was sad, but true. It was a truth that Amber had seen many times during her travels, even if she had only truly been wandering as she was now for the better part of five years.

Currently, she was on the road yet again, having just left a darling little town nestled lovingly between mountain ranges. It's location was phenomenal, in all honesty; natural protection on all sides, yet the farmland was still fertile and plentiful. Natural caves formed in the rocks had created semi-enclosed plots of land, fertile soil within and enough openings in the rocks above to provide ample sunlight for farming.

It wouldn't suffice for a kingdom, not by any means, but the village had an excess of food from their farms and drinking water was also easy to come by as rivers ran down from the snow-capped mountains that rested so far above the elevated plateau which housed the settlement.

And the view... goodness, it had been such a beautiful view of the morning sun. She could have stayed in that quaint little hamlet for the rest of her life and never gotten tired of that.

But that wasn't possible and she knew it. Much as she wished to stay there for even just a day more, Amber knew she had already stayed too long as it was. She didn't hesitate to begin her trek away from the village that had housed her these past days, because it was for their own sake that she left them.

Her life had become one of constant motion since the day she had awoken to find herself the Fall Maiden, a character of myth that she hadn't even considered as more than a fairy tale until the very day it became her life.

Power the likes of which she could never have dreamed. The fury of the storms, raging of an inferno, viciousness of frost, and the raw unadulterated _power_ of nature itself that danced at her fingertips. It was intoxicating, yes, but at the same time it was horrifying.

Soon enough she had been forced to leave the home she had once known, taken briefly under the wing of a man who claimed to be a guardian of... those like her. He had taught her enough to survive, but only that, before his sudden flight had left her alone in the world.

One lesson that he had drilled into the girl she had once been was her mantra. Never stay in one place long enough to be found, or they _will_ find you.

Keep on your feet, and always keep your feet moving. Rest only as long as you can afford to.

And so her feet carried her ever still across the ground, the dirt paths and well-trodden walk-ways that vaguely connected one place to another a familiar sight to her always.

She was being hunted. Even if they had no idea who, even if they had no idea what they wanted, even if they had no idea where they would strike... Amber and all those like her were beings hunted by those in the know, beings of immense power who many wanted to coerce into their service...

Or, as often seemed to be the case with a power that left for another suitable host upon death, they sought to kill her and force the power into someone loyal to them.

Living like this... she could hardly claim she lived like a hunted woman. Grimm troubled her little with the immense power at her fingertips, her Aura allowed her to perform tasks for villages she passed by in exchange for room and food, she never _truly_ felt fearful in the wild even when seemingly defenseless, bathing in a stream or asleep on the ground.

Her life was not one of constant fear, searching over her shoulder for threats. It was not one of scrounging for food from the scraps of others. It was in truth much like an extended camping trip, one that had simply never ended.

She was a wanderer through and through, only stopping by villages she had once passed through when she had put suitable amounts of _other_ villages between these visits and never playing favorites. Amber refused to let simple villagers of the frontier, men and women who worked hard for the lives they led, be dragged into the madness of this conflict between Light and Dark into which she had been thrust. They dealt with the Grimm already... better that be the only Darkness they truly had to meet.

Admittedly, though, despite just how she could say that her life was not necessarily bad... Amber didn't think she was truly happy with it. Her trek continued, but the brunette girl sighed despondently as she put the beautiful view and lovely people of the village further and further behind her. Clutching her forest green cloak closer to her, she carried on just as she always had.

But she was lonely. She had been for years. Smiling faces of villagers meant only so much when the smiles were always on different faces, and when she only saw them for a few days at a time before putting months upon months between their next meeting. The beauty of the world, which she experienced first hand each and every day, was less thrilling when she was without anyone to share her excitement.

And loathe as she was to admit it, such an embarrassing thing to even consider this... Amber wanted to feel the touch of a man. Her power had manifested in her youth, separating her from home before such feelings could grow. But as time went on, she'd become more and more aware of relationships and what they entailed.

Young couples indulging in one another under the moonlit sky, long-time married adults who's love for one another was matched only by their love for the children they had sired... she was no longer ignorant of these things. And try as she might to simply put it aside, to throw it away forever, those thoughts still did persist.

Was she going to die one day, having never been with someone she felt that special _something_ for? Perhaps not love, not outright, but a simple emotional connection beyond the lingering acquaintance she held with a few villagers scattered across the world of Remnant.

Any day could be her last. She did not spend her time fearing that death would come for her, but the threat was ever present. While she did not live like an animal being hunted constantly, Amber knew full well that she was and always would be a target forever more.

She had to remain strong. Had to live this way to protect the people of Remnant who had sheltered her so kindly as she traveled, the people who would be victimized should her power fall into the wrong hands. This was her burden, this was her curse, for great power always carried with it the greatest of responsibilities.

So she was blessed and cursed with this power, and often Amber wished she had simply remained the ignorant little girl training to become a huntress rather than the existence she had become. Her carefree life had been long since over, and it had been cut short without her ever truly realizing how much such simple things had meant to her.

Shaking such sad thoughts from her head, the tanned girl carried on her journey, surprised hours later to see another traveler on these roads.

He had the stance of a civilian, yet distinctive garb of a huntsmen. Armor just enough to protect vitals without hindering movement, a simple blade at his hip, and underneath was clothing that one could simply call casual wear; blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a hoodie.

The thing that really drew attention, however, was the fact that he was currently quite frustrated and viewing his map with wide eyes. As soon as he spotted her, however, the blonde teen started.

Seeing her stop, the boy collected himself for a moment before jogging over to her, a knapsack thrown over his shoulder and map now rolled up in his hands.

As he entered speaking distance, the teen gave her a sheepish smile and one hand quickly found the side of his head, stroking his hair in a fashion that immediately pointed to some kind of nervous tick.

"Hey there, I'm Jaune Arc. It's short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." The wide smile that accompanied his introduction made Amber feel compelled to return it, her own lips quirking upwards.

Encouraged by that, the teen continued on, his smile faltering a bit. "And, uh, _ahem_... I appear to be lost."

* * *

Finding Amber on the road had been the best thing that could have happened to one Jaune Arc.

Though it was more appropriate to say she had found him, really. There he was, finicking with the map he'd picked up on his hasty departure from home and realizing a little too late that he didn't quite know how to follow these maps as well as he expected.

But then she'd shown up, gave him a good natured laugh, and taught him how to read the thing. Thankfully he'd been on course for the most part, but he was kind of concerned about getting lost even still.

She had offered to bring him along to Vale City, though. He'd felt bad at first, not wanting to be a burden on her, but Amber had just laughed that off too, like she knew something he didn't. Weird girl, but she was nice. Smart, too, because she always had some little bit of knowledge to impart on him.

Jaune didn't mind. She had a pretty voice and useful things to say, things he never even thought about. Like how moss on a tree could help you tell directions, since it grew on the side of the tree that didn't get as much sun. Apparently that changed depending on where you were in the world, too; in the north the moss tended to be on the opposite side than the south.

If he ever got lost in the woods, which considering his track record thus far was actually kind of likely, that'd be useful stuff to know. And know it he did, thanks to his traveling companion!

Of course he'd managed to make use of himself too, and thank goodness for his ego that he did. According to Amber, she usually just ate whatever she could gather or catch, and paid no mind to the taste of it beyond whether or not it was edible at all.

Jaune had the fix for that. It would amaze people just what having seven sisters would do for a guy. In this case, it got him good at cooking. And sewing. And he actually was a decent hand at gardening, so he avoided one of the pitfalls Amber had been expecting him to fall prey to.

Namely, grabbing something poisonous and thinking it was safe for consumption. Apparently it was pretty common for first-time scavengers to come back with something inedible and try it anyway.

It felt good that he surprised her in that regard, by knowing pretty much by hand just what was and wasn't safe to eat. And the smile on her face when she got her first taste of the meal he'd thrown together, a rabbit stew seasoned with some of the various herbs he'd tracked down or brought along with him, made pride swell up in his chest.

He was useful. He wasn't worthless. He could do this.

Jaune ran away from his home to become a Huntsman, against the will of his family. They didn't think he could make it. They had specifically kept him from it in every way they could.

Kids got raised on stories of Huntsmen and Huntresses, their glorious exploits and daring escapades all serving to embolden the kids themselves to live that life of adventure.

And, of course, a lot of parents were against that. It was dangerous. Jaune wasn't dumb enough to think otherwise. He could die doing this, or even die due to accidents at the school. His parents had told him plenty of horror stories from Dad's time as a Huntsman, trying to scare him off it.

That didn't work. It just made Jaune Arc all the more ready to face the life, because he knew it wasn't a game. He wasn't trained, Dad had point blank refused to even let him so much as touch a sword before he'd... liberated... Crocea Mors from her perch above the fireplace.

She was a weapon of venerable age... she was old. She wasn't modern at all. No transforming, no gun parts, nothing.

Admittedly Jaune was a bit disappointed, but honestly? He wouldn't know the first thing about using some crazy triple-mode weapon. He didn't even know how to use... his... sword.

Away from Amber, who was currently off bathing in a stream nearby and who had explicitly warned him against peeking, as if he would, Jaune Arc sighed heavily and slid the admittedly beautiful blade from her sheath.

Crocea Mors. A name like that felt kind of grandiose for the blade he held now.

Or maybe it was _he_ that didn't live up to the sword's legend. Maybe it felt this way in his hands because he wasn't worthy of knowing the true strength of the weapon.

A blade didn't survive as long as this one did without being exceptional. She was anything but a trophy, that much even Jaune could tell. The blade was still sharp even after all this time, but there were clear signs of age.

And considering that Crocea Mors had been used last by his great-great-grandfather, passed down to him from his father before... well. Venerable was one word to describe the history of the blade.

Jaune knew that he should see these things when he looked at the sword. The battles she had fought in, the victories she had earned alongside her wielder and the defeats that had been survived narrowly by her intervention. The blood shed and lives saved. The legacy left behind.

But he _didn't_ see those things. All he saw was a sharp piece of metal.

Even as he ran his bare hand over the smooth metal, feeling the ever so small damages done to her blade from years upon years of combat, Jaune Arc couldn't feel anything truly _amazing_ about the sword.

He sighed again, sheathing the blade once more.

Maybe one day he would understand, but for now he just had to keep on moving forward.

His timing was exceptional, it seemed, because Amber had just found her way back to their campsite. Hair still damp and a few stray droplets of water traveling down what skin her clothing revealed, Jaune was again drawn to the thought of just how beautiful Amber was.

From the gentle tan of her skin to the silky smooth chestnut hair, the chocolate brown eyes and the aura of confidence that surrounded her every move. Jaune couldn't help but have a bit of a crush on her, especially seeing as how she'd been kind enough to help him so much. "Have a nice bath?" Jaune asked, throwing the girl a smile and settling his sheathed blade back to his side.

Amber laughed in response, before taking a seat on one of the stones littering the clearing they'd made camp in. "I'd prefer hot water, but the great outdoors hasn't updated it's plumbing for quite a while."

"I'm sure they'll get on that sooner or later. Just think of all the business they're losing!" Jaune replied with a laugh of his own, nodding towards the food. More stew made up in the camping pot he'd brought along, rabbit again. The two of them had seen some boars and deer during their traveling, but it seemed wasteful to go for animals of that size when they knew for a fact the meat wouldn't all be eaten. Rabbit worked well enough. "Dig in, it should be ready to go."

He'd brought along a bunch of camping stuff with him, tucked away in his travel bag. A travel cook set was one such thing, and while he didn't strictly need four bowls and sets of utensils, they all stored conveniently so he hadn't felt the need to cut any out. A good decision, there, because he now had a pretty girl traveling with him and the smile good food brought to her face always made him happy.

It was nice to be helpful.

"I'm really glad I found you fretting over that map, Jaune." Amber smiled that lovely smile of hers, quickly claiming her portion of the food. "I never really learned how to cook beyond the basics."

He blushed a bit at that, scratching his head sheepishly. "I'm kind of surprised, actually. I learned from my mother and sisters, so... I guess I kind of thought cooking was something that girls liked to do."

Amber paused for a moment, a strange expression to her features, before it was wiped away. "I would have liked to. But things happened, and I wasn't ever able to learn." She had been forced from her home at a young age, forced to fend for herself, all because of what she had become. Amber missed many opportunities growing up because of that.

She wasn't bitter, not really. She'd gotten over it for the most part. But... well, it would have been nice.

Shifting the topic away from herself, the tanned girl decided to try and learn more about her companion. They'd been on the road for a few days now, and she expected at least another month of travel before they reached Vale on foot, but the two of them had only spoken about random, trivial topics. "How about yourself? You mentioned your sisters and mother taught you how to cook? Tell me about them."

Jaune laughed a bit. "I mean, it was less that they taught me and more that it was kind of forced on me. Our family is big and everyone wants to be involved with everyone else, so it's kind of hectic. Most of what I picked up wasn't anything I really wanted to learn, just what happened to be going on at the time. Cooking for eight kids was kind of an ordeal on it's own, you know? It was hard enough before those kids started messing around in the kitchen out of boredom."

Amber blinked. "Eight kids? You have seven siblings?"

"Yeah, my sisters." Jaune replied easily, like it was the most normal thing in the world. And to him it probably was, seeing as how he grew up with them, but Amber couldn't help but be impressed.

It briefly had her mind drifting to what it would be like to have her own family, but she pushed it from her mind. No sense in dwelling on that when she actually had something else to distract her.

"What were they like? I figure you would have to have a lot of personalities in such a big family."

Judging by the look of fond exasperation on his face, he had stories.

Amber was happy to listen to each and every one of them, feeling immersed in the sense of comfort and family that her traveling companion's stories brought as they sat around their camp fire.

* * *

Over the next few days, they had carried on like their norm. Amber would lead Jaune down the roads and pathways, explaining all the while some phenomenon or another she had encountered on her travels, and he would attentively listen to every last word.

They made decent time, Jaune never complained about tiring from their walking and Amber herself was used to the long treks, so there was no issue on her part. But even so, Vale was a long way away.

Unfortunately, one issue with traveling the wilds in their world was ever-present; Grimm.

Thus far they had been lucky and encountered none on their journey, but as they found their way through the most recent stretch of land Amber paused and held her hand out for Jaune to stop.

"What's wrong?" The blonde teen asked, head cocked to the side curiously as his guide stopped suddenly.

"Do you see the markings on these trees?" She asked, those chocolate brown eyes of hers dancing warily about the forest.

Jaune blinked, blue eyes widening as he finally made note of the claw marks on the trees. "That's... not a regular animal." He gulped, hand reaching to his blade quickly.

Indeed, the marks made on the tree were from the claws of something much larger than a regular forest creature. They tore great gouges into the wood, leaving painful splinters in the trunk.

Amber recognized the signs of a Beowolf immediately, and the size alone was enough to inform her it was an Alpha. Which meant there was a pack in the area.

She relayed this to Jaune, who gulped and seemed to pale briefly, before his grip on his blade tightened once more. "Do you think they're nearby? H-How old does the mark look?"

That brought a smile from Amber, because he was clearly learning from some of what she told him. Animal tracks could be used to hunt animals or identify their territory, and while Grimm were a lot more destructive and vicious a lot of the same signs applied.

Beowolves had a territory they often stuck to. Grimm did not hunt for sustenance, they hunted to kill. As such, a pack of Beowolves did not move on due to food shortage. They made their territory, waited for something to pass through, and if nothing did they would eventually move on elsewhere to try it again.

But just by looking at this tree, some of the wood still hanging on by the smallest margins where the claw struck, Amber could tell it was very recent. There was a pretty hefty rainfall just three days prior, and a tree by the roadside would have seen heavy enough rainfall to knock loose the hanging slivers of wood.

"It's a few days tops. Unless you feel like detouring to hunt these Beowolves down ourselves, we may be able to just move through without a fight if we're cautious."

And... well. They _were_ cautious, as a matter of fact.

A part of Amber did want to go handle the Beowolves, but at the same time she had Jaune with her and didn't know exactly what kind of numbers they were looking at. And she wasn't about to go rushing a student hopeful into a pack forty strong. Sure, she could handle that relatively easily, but for Jaune it'd be crushingly overwhelming. She also couldn't guarantee he would be safe if she went to handle the pack, because the chances of there just being more wandering around were pretty high.

The road they were using was fairly untraveled, though. It was a shorter path to Vale, but not a road or path that was suitable for caravans or large groups. Usually these roads were unused, or traveled by fairly experienced individuals. She would make note to alert the next village they found, so the information could spread.

But that lead to now, where Amber and Jaune had taken refuge in a fairly shallow cave. Jaune had been concerned that, should they be attacked, they would have nowhere to run to. It was defensible, sure, because behind them was solid stone for dozens of feet... but if they were overwhelmed, there was no way to retreat.

And he had seemed nervous about it, twitchy and grabbing at his sword... but she knew full well that this was best. No matter how many Grimm tried to pile in through the cave entrance, it wouldn't matter.

She would annihilate them for their trouble. Such was the power of the Fall Maiden.

Settled at the back of the cave, sleeping bag laid out as a cushion, was Jaune. His hands tightly gripped the sturdy blade at his side, and he seemed altogether uncomfortable.

Amber sighed, walking back to him and placing a hand on the boy's shoulder reassuringly. He jumped at the contact, breathing somewhat heavy.

"It's okay to be scared." She began, crouching down next to him. "Grimm aren't a joke. I understand that just fine."

Jaune started to protest, but Amber just smiled and pressed a finger to his lip. He flushed at the contact, but remained silent. "We will be fine, Jaune. I picked this spot for tonight because the Grimm can't surround us. They can only come from one direction." The finger on his lips moved, and the blue eyes of her companion followed it towards the cave entrance. Outside was the forest, dark and menacing now with the threat of monsters afoot. "Any Grimm that comes to that cave entrance is going to be destroyed. I promise you that. Do you trust me?"

He did. Jaune Arc trusted this girl in front of him. She had saved him from being lost on the road, had guided him this far without complaint, and had been some of the best company he could ask for. Jaune had no reason not to trust Amber.

"I trust you. It's just... I don't really know. How are you so sure we won't be overrun in here?" Trust or no trust, he was worried for more than just himself. Jaune would fight the Grimm, he wouldn't run or hide like a coward... but if odds were against them, they didn't have to fight. They could run away, there were only the two of them after all. There was no one else they had to protect from the Grimm. So why trap themselves here?

Amber's smile faltered for a moment, and she seemed deeply in thought, before a decision was made. "My Semblance will take care of it. I'm good at dealing with large crowds, and if they can only get in through one entrance then I don't have to worry about aiming. And I don't need to worry about whether or not they can come from behind us. And most importantly, I can make sure _you_ are behind me if I need to use it." Because if he wasn't, Amber couldn't guarantee he wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.

Jaune slowly nodded, unsure still but more or less calm. "Okay. If you're sure that your, uh, Semblance can handle this then I'll... I'll trust you." He calmed a bit more, finally removing the tight grip from his sword's hilt. "Sorry. I'm just... nervous, I guess."

She understood completely. She had felt the same way at first, when she had so little control of her power. Grimm had approached, and she had lashed out with the power she had only just begun to fathom. The result had been catastrophic, destruction that even still remained... and it'd all been unleashed on a single Boarbatusk.

Not one of her prouder moments.

"It's nerve wracking at first." Amber admitted, sighing. "Grimm are scary at first. They never really stop being scary, not entirely, but once you get some experience you won't be so nervous."

Jaune grumbled to himself, incomprehensible. She assumed it was some complaint about how she was treating him like a kid, but that made her giggle.

The boy of course noticed her giggles. He pouted.

She couldn't help but laugh harder at that, though.

Of course then he harrumphed and pushed her onto her rear, but...

"Pft... hahaha!" Amber managed to fall onto her back from there, hands over her stomach as she laughed up a storm.

Jaune Arc's appearance was now just one stormcloud short of a picturesque cartoon scene, with the blonde boy poking at the floor of the cave and grumbling about how "it's not funny."

The danger of the outside was all but forgotten for him, though, and Amber made certain to keep an eye on the entrance even through her laughter.

She wasn't about to let some Grimm rid her of the first friend she'd been able tease and laugh with in years.

* * *

Weeks had passed now. Amber could honestly say she loved having company on the road, even if it was just one person.

This was kind of a new experience for her, honestly. In all her time traveling about, she hadn't ended up sticking to a group. No one had managed to catch her with just the right situation.

She'd met travelers lost on the road before, but they had been with caravans or heavily armed bodyguards. She gave them directions and went on their way.

Jaune had been all by his lonesome, lost on the road, and visibly distressed. How could she not have helped him? And it was just good fortune that he was making a trip to Vale of all places, by foot.

Amber hadn't planned to go to Vale. But, on the other hand, Amber didn't plan not to go to Vale either. It had been years since she stepped foot behind those walls.

Walls that were now firmly _behind_ them.

She walked along with her blonde friend, trying to keep the grimace from her lips.

It was time for them to part ways. The thought of it was almost enough to physically pain her. These last few weeks had been some of the best she had experienced in years. She hadn't been alone, not when she slept, not when she woke, not when she ate, not when she walked.

And now it was time to give that up. Again, she was forced to give up something she wanted. The thought made her want to scream, to let loose with this _stupid_ power of hers, to use it all up and hope it never came back so she could just finally live her life. What good was this? What good did any of this immense power do for her if she couldn't even have one single thing she wanted?

For his part, Jaune was pretty quiet on their walk as well. Initially he'd been absolutely amazed by the giant walls that surrounded Vale, his awe hadn't let up as they'd passed through the gates.

But now, walking through one of the small towns dotting the landscape of the Valean Agricultural District? Reality was setting in.

He was here. He was going to live his dream, take on the challenge of becoming a Hunstmen. He was here and this was real.

But what was just as real was the fact that Amber wouldn't be with him anymore. As they steadily made their way towards the one inn that this town had, the first town they had encountered at all in their travels, Jaune felt his gut clench more and more with every single footstep.

Amber was going to leave. She'd told him that she never stayed in one place. When he had asked her why, she'd clammed up, but it was clear that whatever was making her move around so much was also something that made her really sad to even think about.

Jaune had stopped asking after the very first time. She was too good to him for him to try and pry into something she didn't want to talk about.

But all over again he felt the temptation to ask her to stay. To not leave him.

He hadn't ever felt this way before, and it kind of scared him. No, actually, it really scared him.

When Jaune had run away from home, there was guilt in his heart, a pit in his stomach. He was leaving his friends and family behind and doing something none of them approved of. He didn't know when he would even see his parents, his sisters, or anyone else from home again. At the time, he had thought that was the most difficult thing he had ever done.

But as he reached the doorway to the inn, Jaune couldn't help but feel like walking through the entrance would be even harder.

Next to him, Amber had stopped as well.

They both shared a glance with one another, and in that moment a pair of bittersweet smiles found their faces.

"This is going to be the last night we're together." Amber started. "I really wish it didn't have to be."

He wanted to ask her why it couldn't be. But he wouldn't. She deserved to keep that secret if she wanted to.

The question wasn't ever vocalized. It didn't need to be. Amber could see it in his eyes, in his stance.

She wished that they could just stay like they had been. She wished that she could take him with her as she left, but it wouldn't be possible.

Jaune was going to become a Huntsmen. He had a dream and he wanted nothing in the world more than that.

Amber couldn't even fathom the idea of asking him to give that up, not for anything. Especially not for her own happiness.

They had delayed too long already, just waiting outside of the building like they were awaiting permission to come in. It had earned them a few strange looks from the passerbys, but nothing too apparent... yet. Eventually someone was going to ask them just what they were doing loitering around the inn.

"Lets..." Amber began to speak, but trailed off as a thought hit her.

She couldn't have Jaune. Not forever. Not even for much longer. But she did still have time with him before they had to go their separate ways. Could now be her chance to finally do one of the things she had thought she would never experience?

It almost surprised her just how easy it was to commit to that decision.

"Let's get a room for the night, Jaune." She repeated, this time with no hesitation in her tone.

That caught him off guard, how suddenly Amber had gone from lost in thought to decisive action.

"Ah, right, right." He replied, shaking his head. "It's getting kind of late, yeah." The sun was already setting. The two of them had arrived at Vale with daylight to spare, but not much of it. "I guess we can get our rooms and... I'll see you in the morning?" Getting that out was difficult. The words came out more like a question, and Jaune felt like someone was crushing his throat just trying to say even that.

"Jaune." There was something in the way that Amber said his name, something that he couldn't put his finger on. Whatever it was, it made his heart flutter a little, and lightened the invisible grip on his wind pipe. "I said... let's get _a_ room for the night."

It was like lightning struck him, catching on to just what she was implying. "I-I, you want to..? W-What?" Words weren't working now, but it wasn't at all related to some unknown force crushing his neck this time; instead, it was the butterflies in his stomach that were flying right up into his heart and turning _that_ into a fluttering mess. It was the heat he felt rushing to his face, roasting his poor brain alive within his cranium.

It was the _smile_ that she graced him with. That was the real killer, what turned his brain to mush.

But that smile also put him on auto-pilot, because Jaune heard the words come from his lips even though he didn't think he knew how words worked right now.

"Yeah. Let's get a room for the night."

* * *

If someone had asked Jaune Arc how he'd gotten where he was right now, he wouldn't have any clue what to say.

Things were kind of a blur. They had entered the inn, and checked to see if any rooms were available.

That had been the last chance to back out. There were plenty of rooms, and they both had the funds for a stay overnight.

Neither one of them had hesitated when asked if they wanted two separate rooms. Their response had been exactly the same.

"No, one room is fine."

The woman behind the counter had smiled at them, and while Jaune wasn't a hundred percent sure he _thought_ that his ears had caught her murmuring something about young love.

Love wasn't exactly a word he threw around much. Well, not for anyone who wasn't his mother, father, or one of many sisters. The number of people Jaune could say he loved was pretty extensive, but that was his parents fault.

Except for this one. He had done this to himself. Or maybe Amber had done it to him, was more fair to say? It wasn't the same kind of love as what he had for his family, thankfully, but Jaune couldn't think of anything else to call the feelings he had for the girl who had picked him up from the side of a road.

In the end it didn't matter just how it came to be, though. The two of them got their room, and it was cozy enough. The bed was neatly made, and there was plenty of room for a person to lay out comfortably.

Two people wouldn't be as comfortable as one at all, though, not unless the two people in question were practically glued to one another.

Thankfully, that was exactly where both Jaune and Amber wanted to be. They didn't know exactly what they were doing, but that was just fine. They had all night to learn, and both of them were bringing a lot of enthusiasm to it as well.

Amber had started off strong. The very instant the door had been locked behind them, she had thrown her arms around Jaune's neck and pulled his lips to hers.

Clumsy didn't even begin to describe it. It had been their very first kiss and if anyone had seen it they would probably have laughed.

But it had sent electricity through both of them. Even though it was amateurish they were both sure looked like a mess, it was filled to the brim with passion. Amber hadn't held back at all.

This was the first time that she had ever been selfish since her powers had come to her. This may be the _only_ time she got to be selfish like this. Tonight was about _them_ and not a single thing else.

They'd reached the bed not long after they had begun enjoying one another, and clothes had been disappearing from the two of them even before they'd gotten that far, littering the floor of the room.

Now she was straddling Jaune's hips, her blonde lover topless beneath her. His chest rose and fell quickly, wide blue eyes staring up at her like she was the only thing that mattered in the world.

She loved that.

He wasn't the only one showing off skin, though. Her own upper clothing had been thrown away as well, leaving just a single piece of cloth to keep her modesty intact.

It only took another second for Amber to throw that off as well.

Modesty had no place here, not tonight. Her breasts were freed from the confines of the tube-top serving as a bra without any hesitation, leaving every inch of sunkissed skin above her waist visible to the boy below her. There was a moment of embarrassment from her as his eyes roamed over the swell of her breast, but Amber didn't let that bother her.

She had decided this was what she wanted, and thrown herself into it headfirst. Jaune was the only person she had ever _wanted_ this way. He was sweet, funny, handsome, and he was _hers_ even if it was just for tonight. Therefore, she would do her absolute best to make sure that she was _his_ as well, and make sure he _knew_ that.

Her breath hitched as his hands, previously at her hips, began to trail up her sides. Slowly, as if he still couldn't believe this was happening, Jaune let her smooth skin glide under his palms, savoring each and every little gasp and mewl he could coax out of the girl straddling him.

Amber was surprised that he hadn't immediately gone for her newly revealed chest, but it was a pleasant kind of surprise. While she definitely wouldn't mind getting his hands on her bust, she enjoyed just how captivated her was with the rest of her even more.

It felt good to have those beautiful blue eyes of his roam her body. It felt good that he looked at her like she was the only thing in his world. It felt just as good to have those warm hands of his stroke her flank, setting her on fire and sending her squirming on his lap even without going for the sensitive flesh of her breast.

Things got even better when Jaune slipped one arm around her waist and pulled her down into him, the sudden warmth she felt against her body a sharp contrast from the cool air which had just moments ago been helping stiffen her nipples. The other snaked its way around her neck and dragged her into another kiss, stifling the surprised gasp that would have left her lips by claiming them for himself. Once Jaune got the kiss he had been looking for, the arm used to guide her there quickly found its way to her back and held her tighter to him.

For his part, Jaune was trying his absolute best not to let his lack of experience ruin things. The second her top had come off he'd realized that he didn't have any idea how sensitive those were. What if he was too rough? Would that ruin the mood? Would it hurt her? Jaune didn't know and it was embarrassing to even consider asking, so instead he played it safe.

Now, with her bare skin flush against him, it was getting really hard to contain himself. She was so soft, so warm, and she smelled like all of the best parts of the great outdoors. Her lips pressed against his, with no sign of nervousness, nothing to let him know that she was just as inexperienced as him.

Jaune rolled over, taking Amber with him and drawing a sharp gasp from her as their lips separated in the movement. In just a few moments he'd gone from being beneath her to above, her face flushed from their activities. The steady rise and fall of her chest was impossible to ignore without her shirt to hide anything.

Honestly, Jaune wasn't even sure what had possessed him to straddle her like this, but she didn't look unhappy with it. With that in mind, he finally succumbed to temptation and let his hands gently fall on her breasts.

Judging by the moan that it drew out of her, this was a good decision on his part. "How do you like them?" Amber asked him, a sly little grin on her lips as she laid back and let her lover explore her chest, hands softly grasping the sheets of the bed.

"They're so soft." Jaune replied airily, almost mesmerized by the sensation. He began to softly knead with his hands, careful not to squeeze too hard. He gulped at the tiny gasps and moans slipping from her lips, sounds that _he_ was coaxing out of her. The idea of that still seemed so unreal to him, but here they were.

Her breasts fit his hands pretty perfectly; not too large, but certainly not small. He could feel the stiffness of her nipples against his palm, and each little squeeze or stroke from his fingers sent her squirming pleasurably underneath him.

"I'm glad you like them." Amber managed to get out after Jaune paused in his ministrations for a moment, staring up at him warmly. "Tonight I'm all yours, Jaune. Go ahead and take me however you want." One of her hands lifted from their resting position at her side to cover his left hand on her breast, all while she offered him a positively radiant smile.

If he hadn't already been nursing a hard-on, _that_ would have gotten him full mast in an instant. As it was, since he _was_ already struggling against his jeans, Jaune had some serious concerns about whether or not mere denim was gonna be enough to rein in that beast.

Amber noticed immediately, and she grinned at him like a cat who had not only eaten the canary, but got a reward for it too. "Want a hand getting out of those pants?" She paused, something devious coming into her eyes. "Or maybe you want my hand on something _in_ those pants?"

Her teasing was just as effective as she expected it to be. Amber wasn't experienced, not by a long shot, but she knew how things worked and she knew what she wanted.

Right now, she wanted him. And she was pretty sure he wanted her just as badly.

Jaune flushed, and she admired the pink on his cheeks even as she laid under him, before he gulped audibly. His hands moved away from her chest, something Amber would normally have complained about, but seeing just _where_ those hands were going she let it slide.

After a moment of fiddling with the button of his jeans, Jaune Arc won a great victory over the pants that were trying to keep him prisoner. Who would have thought something so simple would be such a relief?

His moment to savor the newly found freedom of his member, now only covered by his much less constrictive boxer briefs, was taken from him by a sudden sensation. "Ah!" He gasped aloud, unwittingly pressing his hips forward.

"Is this for me?" Amber asked with a giggle, running her palm over his bulge, enjoying the warmth of it against her skin.

After taking a second to recompose himself, Jaune found what wit he could. "Y-Yeah, if you want it." His reply came out as more of a groan than anything, but it was intelligible at least.

"Hm..." Amber hummed, one hand coming to play with her own nipple while the other continued to stroke Jaune through his boxers. "I think I do want it, as a matter of fact. Why don't you get those pants off? I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

That was a deal Jaune Arc would take in a heartbeat.

Amber laughed as he fought with his jeans, one hand covering her mouth to try and hide her humor.

It didn't quite work, because her lovable dork of a man had almost fallen off of the bed in the process. She couldn't help but laugh then, even as he righted himself and grumbled at her for it.

She couldn't help it. He was just so damn _cute_ sometimes!

But, well, cute wasn't all she could use to describe him. Jaune wasn't exactly ripped, but he wasn't scrawny either. With the baggy hoodie thrown to the side along with his other clothes, she could see every little bit of definition that his body had.

All in all; not bad. And the bulge she'd felt earlier wasn't anything to scoff at either.

With his jeans thrown away like they'd personally offended him, that left Jaune just in his boxers. Normally he would've been mortified to be in his underwear in front of a girl, but seeing as how that girl was topless and he'd been fondling her boobs for the last few minutes that instinct could take itself down the road somewhere.

He had more important things to do, such as the aforementioned topless girl. "Well?" Jaune got up the confidence to ask, seeing her chocolate eyes roaming his body. "Like what you see?" He had to congratulate himself for not stumbling over that sentence. He didn't even have to run the words through his head more than once to get them to make sense this time!

"I'm definitely a fan." Amber purred in response, beckoning him over. Not one to refuse a beautiful half-naked girl, he complied quickly and let her pull him into a quick kiss. One of the girls hands found their way to his backside and gave a firm squeeze to one cheek through his underwear.

She was rewarded with a very unmanly squeak at that, something that made Amber's grin grow wider

Jaune growled a bit at her. "I-I think it's your turn to take something off now?" He grit out, embarrassed by the hand that was _still_ groping his ass.

"Hm... in a second, but first..." Her other hand quickly joined the first, earning another squawk from Jaune as his rump was assaulted by her hands.

She wasn't even half as gentle with him as he had been with her. The unfairness of it all! Was that a double standard?

... well, okay, so he didn't _mind_ it that much but still! "Having fun back there?" Jaune grumbled, very aware of the raging erection that was threatening to peek out of his boxers and just as aware of the soft hands kneading the flesh of his rear end.

"Oh yes I am." Amber giggled, punctuating her reply with another firm squeeze. "I've been wanting to do this for a while. Don't act like you wouldn't be giving my butt the same treatment if I was still on top." She wouldn't have minded that, though. This was really fun too, of course, but she was excited to experience everything he had to offer her, and excited to make sure she gave him the same.

Just as he was about to make his own response, Amber cut Jaune off by hooking her fingers into the waistband of his boxers and swiftly yanking them down to his knees, freeing the beast in an instant and earning herself _another_ almost feminine squeak from her favorite blonde.

"Amber!" He yelped, hands halfway towards covering his shame before it sunk in that he didn't _need_ to, though that didn't kill the scarlet hue that had taken over his face. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he moved his hands away to give her an unobstructed view of him.

And what a view it was. She didn't have anything to really judge him on in terms of size, this being her very first encounter of the sort, but she wasn't disappointed by any means. On the rare occasion when she had wanted to indulge in herself, Amber hadn't ever used anything larger than her fingers.

Tonight that was going to be changing, and she was looking forward to it.

Jaune worked his boxers the rest of the way off, grumbling something about how _he_ was the first one to get naked.

That got another laugh from Amber, but as he turned a petulant glare onto her she made a peace offering. "Want to help get mine off now?"

Now, Jaune wasn't entirely sure what he had been planning to say. Maybe something about how she was really having her fun with him, or how she seemed to be having a lot of fun, something like that. It would probably have been pretty clever, he bet.

Well, anything would have been more clever than what he actually said. "S-Sure." He gulped, eyes trailing from Amber's face and down her body, passing over her bare breasts and flat stomach to the pants hiding the rest of her from his sight.

Amber didn't know exactly what she was expecting; would he just yank them down and take her right then? Was he going to go slowly like he did before?

In the end, he didn't really match pace with either of those possibilities. Jaune leaned forward, supporting himself on one arm, and placed his lips on her navel. Amber gasped a little, not having expected the feel of his lips on her skin. At the same time, his other hand moved to undo the front of her pants while he continued to trail butterfly kisses across her stomach.

Not too slow, like he was timid. Not too fast, like he was rabid. And she didn't mind the kisses at all either.

It made her feel special. And not in the bad way, like her status as the Fall maiden, but in a way that she couldn't even really put into words. Each little peck made her heart flutter, even as she felt him finally manage to get her pants undone.

Amber lifted her hips, giving Jaune the help he needed to disrobe her. Soon enough they were around her knees as she laid back on the bed, with a single article of clothing hiding her from him yet again.

"G-Go on, take them off. I want you to see." She was actually embarrassed at this point. Jaune was going to be the first person to have seen her naked outside of her parents.

She hadn't changed clothes with anyone else, she hadn't bathed with anyone else, and she certainly hadn't been intimate with anyone else in her lifetime. It really made things seem all the more real, and while she had been pretty confident this whole time there was something about that realization that brought red to her cheeks as she lay there underneath him, hands gripping the covers tighter so as to keep her from covering her face.

Even if the thought did embarrass her, she _wanted_ him to see all of her. To _have_ all of her. Right now there wasn't anything else in the world she cared about more than him.

The rest of Remnant could wait. Right now was _their_ time and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Jaune, for his part, didn't have that same kind of awful pressure weighing down on him. This wasn't his one chance to indulge. He didn't have to keep moving, live life on the run.

But tonight was just as significant to him, because he was sharing it with _her_. The girl who had found his clueless self on the side of the road, boggling over a map he barely knew how to read only an _hour_ out of his home town. The girl who didn't pity him for it, but instead taught him better. Who guided his journey to Vale even though she didn't have to.

A girl who was smart, who was funny, who had so many stories to tell and a beautiful voice to tell them with. A girl who was sharp and confident, who would walk up to a Beowolf and slap it in the face for wasting her time. A girl who actually listened to _his_ stories, asked him for more, because she genuinely cared.

Tonight, Jaune was with the girl he'd fallen head over heels for, and it was like a dream come true.

His heart was thundering in his chest as his hands found their way to the hem of her underwear, a pair of white boy shorts that contrasted sharply against her tanned skin, and the flush on her cheeks- finally, she was the one embarrassed instead of him!- was a drug that Jaune could see himself getting addicted to easily.

She squirmed more underneath him, fidgeting and blushing, and Jaune really did enjoy it. Payback for her dropping his boxers out of the blue.

Amber had pretty much thrown him into the pool there, and the water had been freezing until he got used to it. But now Jaune was swimming just fine and it was her turn to get wet.

Man. That sounded way better in his head. Good thing he was too occupied to actually say it out loud or she would probably be too busy laughing for them to keep going.

His fingers hooked into the hem of her underwear, and Jaune couldn't help but grin against her navel, his face just scant few inches away from the prize he was about to uncover. He could almost _feel_ her eyes on him, Amber squirming underneath him from embarrassment.

Without wasting another second, Jaune brought his hands down, and with them came the last piece of cloth hiding all of Amber from him. Dragging her underwear down to where he'd let her pants rest, he looked up at Amber and grinned at her flushed face.

She pouted at him, clearly irritated that the shoe was on the other foot now. "... shut up." She grumbled.

"I didn't say anything." Jaune replied, bringing his hands back to her now uncovered hips.

"You were thinking it."

"I was, yeah."

"Shut up." She repeated.

"Fine." Jaune replied, a sudden genius idea coming to him. "I'll use my mouth for something else then." Porn had taught him some things, after all, and honestly he'd always wanted to try this.

Amber, for the first second after he'd said it, didn't actually realize what he was up to. But the moment his lips found her _other_ lips, it became crystal clear just what Jaune was up to.

She had a lot of trouble thinking after that, though. Sensations she'd never known shot through her body like lightning, breath left her body in the form of loud gasps and moans. Amber couldn't even form a proper sentence through it, even if there was anything she could think of to say in the first place as Jaune gleefully lapped and suckled at her.

Much like the rest of their performance through the night; clumsy, but with _a lot_ of enthusiasm. He was mindful of his teeth, but that was about all that was being controlled. His tongue lapped at her labia, but then would dive right into her folds, and there was no rhyme or reason to it. Her hands gripped the sheets tighter, and the first coherent thought Amber could put together since he'd begun was to question why the hell they hadn't done this sooner.

"J-Jaune!" She let his name escape her in a fit of pleasure, arching her back and cursing the clothing that was still around her knees. If not for the pants she was wearing Amber would've hard her legs wrapped around his head to get him as close to her as she possibly could.

In hindsight, she wondered if he'd actually thought about that when he'd left them on. Or maybe he was just eager to get to the prize?

Amber didn't really know. She didn't care that much either, though, because Jaune was still giving her a tongue lashing and she was loving every second of it regardless.

Jaune was also enjoying himself quite a bit. Sure, he wasn't actually being stimulated physically, but did he really need to be when he was the reason Amber couldn't get out words other than his name? Talk about a serious confidence boost, not to mention the feel of her.

And the taste of her. He really didn't know how to describe it. Sweet, tangy, something like that? A bit salty? It was hard to even say. Like, surely there was a taste to it, but Jaune kind of didn't notice it because he was just too occupied with everything going on at the moment.

Man, though, he was glad he'd gotten too excited to actually get Amber's pants all the way off. With the way she was moving under him, Jaune was pretty sure she would've suffocated him between her thighs if she had the range of movement to do it.

... not a bad way to go, but he was having too much fun to die right now.

Like all good things, though, it had to end eventually. And this particular ending was pretty spectacular, something Jaune could personally attest to because he was face to face with ground zero.

The sound that Amber made was a mix between a scream, a moan, his name, and a few other things he honestly couldn't even place.

On any other day, at any other place, and in any other situation, that sound would've scared him senseless and had Crocea Mors in his hands before he even had a second to think about it.

Today, though, he was naked and headfirst between Amber's legs. The only sword on him wasn't made for _that_ kind of stabbing, and he knew just what happened to get that kind of reaction from her.

Still, even knowing that she'd just cum, Jaune was blindsided by just how _hard_ she had cum.

Ground zero was right. An explosion was about the closest thing he could compare that to.

After a few seconds, Jaune pulled his now soaked face away from Amber, wide blue eyes looking up at the girl who was panting breathlessly with her eyes closed.

"... wow." Was all he managed after a moment, a dopey grin spreading across his face. "That was... wow."

Amber blushed bright red, something he could still tell apart from the natural flush of her skin from their activities. "S-Shut up." She panted out, turning her head to the side and refusing to meet his eyes. "I've never... no one ever... that was..." Amber trailed off, unable to put words together properly in the wake of the single best orgasm she'd ever had. Her fingers didn't even come close to comparing.

"Wow?" Jaune offered cheekily, enjoying _his_ turn to be smug.

That drew a huff from Amber, but she replied all the same. "... Yeah. Wow." She mumbled, finally catching her breath again. "That was really wow. But unless you let it out on the sheets, I don't think we're done yet Jaune." She wasn't sure he was going to be able to top what he'd just done to her, but Amber was eager to see him try.

Jaune gulped, wiping his hard earned reward from his face with an arm. "Yeah." He spoke up after a second, shifting on the bed to a more comfortable position, and one that made his raging hard-on apparent to her. "I, uh... if I was still wearing pants I'm pretty sure there would be a hole in them." He'd never been this hard in his life. Late night rendezvous with his right hand had _nothing_ on this.

"Why am _I_ still wearing pants?" Amber asked, quirking a brow at him, having finally gotten past the initial embarrassment of dousing his face in her cum. "Chop chop, get these damn things off of me." She demanded, lifting her legs towards him. "And then get over here and make me yours, you dork."

If he had any complaints about her demand or her calling him a dork, which he didn't really all things considered, the shy little smile on her lips as she asked him to take her would have put them to rest.

As it was, that smile just made his heart melt and turned his brain to mush all over again. Nothing but instinct kept him moving as he helped Amber disrobe, but that worked well enough. It took just a couple of seconds to get them off and throw them across the room like their usefulness had run out, but they were the longest seconds of Jaune's life.

He really was about to do this with her. They were going all the way. Jaune hadn't even in his wildest dreams thought that the two of them would be just seconds away from taking each other's virginity.

But this was real, it was happening, and there was a part of him that still couldn't believe it.

Jaune mentally punched that part of him in the face to get it to shut up and see the reality of the situation, and then looked over Amber once again.

Laid back on the bed, not a scrap of clothing to hide her from his eyes, with a pretty flush on her cheeks and a smile that could melt ice. Her legs were spread invitingly, one hand laid across her torso just beneath her breasts and the other nervously groping at the covers beneath her.

Jaune had never wanted anything as much as he wanted her right now. He felt himself throb painfully as he moved forward, using every ounce of self control he had to keep from just pouncing on her like a wild animal.

Instead, he moved closer to her, kneeling between her parted legs and placing his hands on her thighs to pull her closer to him.

He kind of wanted to ask if she was sure, but honestly? Fuck that, and pardon his mental language.

There was no reason to ask. He knew that she wanted this just as much as he did. If Amber didn't want to be here with him, they wouldn't be naked in bed and he wouldn't be inches away from losing his virginity and taking hers.

Instead, he leaned forward, pulling her against him and letting an almost violent gasp tear from his throat at the sensation. He was pressed flush to her, with his shaft trapped between the two of them, but Jaune Arc was something of a romantic at heart.

Maybe another girl would have complained about what he'd been using his mouth for just moments earlier, but Amber didn't even hesitate to return the kiss he'd pulled her into. She wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling his warmth closer to her, and returned every ounce of passion he gave to her with great vigor.

As the two of them pulled away, Amber smiled again at Jaune, chocolate brown eyes meeting with ocean blue.

Nothing had to be said. They were both ready, and they could both tell.

Jaune pulled away, shifting to position himself. Lining himself with her slick entrance, he gulped one last time before pressing forward into the unknown.

He was greeted by a heat that almost drove him insane the moment he'd been engulfed. A soft, silky vice, moving and pulsing around him. Below him, Amber gasped sharply, but it was clear by her expression that it was out of shock and pleasure rather than pain.

Good. Jaune had no experience at all, but he'd heard it could hurt the first time. He was trying to be gentle, but after going so long without release while he'd been making her squirm under him, that had been a losing battle.

Amber looked up at him, eyes wide. "It's so hot." She managed to say, squirming her hips experimentally and taking pleasure in the sensations. She moaned out loud as Jaune pressed himself deeper into her, the hands at her hips pulling her as close to him as physically possible. "S-So much better than my fingers."

 _That_ was all the encouragement Jaune needed to move on, testing the waters by rocking his own hips just a bit. Seeing that he'd earned another lusty gasp for that, it was almost impossible to keep from just going wild right then and there.

But he held out, starting off slowly. Hands guiding her hips to keep him on target, Jaune pulled himself backwards until he'd almost backed out of her entirely.

Amber knew what was coming next, and judging by her flushed face and panting she was just as ready as he was.

Here, it didn't really matter that Jaune was clumsy and had no experience. All he had to do was keep on target and push himself forward. His hands on her hips made that simple, and Amber wasn't going to be letting him out from between her legs until the both of them were well and satisfied.

So he let himself go a little bit, and thrust himself back into her. Back and forth, back and forth, he kept his pace steady but not frantic.

He didn't need to ask if it felt good, or be concerned about being too rough.

Amber was having the time of her life and both of them knew it.

She'd not only shed her virginity, but it wasn't with some random stranger in a tavern like she'd sometimes considered. It was with a boy she'd really started to fall for. A kind, loving, dorky blonde who had brightened her world up since the very instant she'd met him.

It was fast, and it was hard, but they weren't just having sex. As corny as it sounded even in her head, the two of them were making love.

And it felt absolutely amazing. Each and every thrust had her gripping the sheets tighter, moans and gasps and cries of his name rushing from her lips like a flood.

"You're amazing." Jaune managed to groan out, never slowing his pace. "I-I've never felt like this before. A-Amber, I think I'm in love." The words slipped out before he could stop them, if he would have even wanted to. Maybe it wasn't the best time to make a heartfelt confession, while he could barely make words straight and was doing his level best to make her feel the same, but Jaune just couldn't contain himself. It went beyond just pleasure. Whatever satisfaction he got from her body was _nothing_ compared to how good it felt to be with _her_. Even if this wasn't the best time for it, he had to let her know.

If it was anyone else, maybe Amber would have written it off as something said in the heat of the moment, something that slipped out in a fit of passion. The kind of awkward thing that you wouldn't want to talk about afterwards, or bring up again the next day. An accident, a slip of the tongue. Anyone else, she could have found herself thinking that.

But not Jaune, the goofy blonde boy who had come into her life and given her a chance to actually _enjoy_ it again. She knew he wasn't just saying these things. He meant it all.

Amber had enough of being under him. She loved the way his hips slammed against hers, the way his body felt against her legs, how his warm hands felt on her hips.

However... what he'd said, just then, it lit a fire in her. Amber wanted to really _show_ him that she felt the same way. That she was just as hopelessly in love as he was.

So, she locked him more tightly between her legs, pulling him deeper inside of her but halting his movement. Jaune was visibly confused for the briefest second before _he_ was the one pinned to the bed.

Amber straddled him, and quickly retook her position on his shaft, indulging in the sensation as she let gravity pull her down onto him. "I feel the same way." She told him, certain the smile on her lips wasn't going to be leaving any time soon. Not giving him any time to reply to her, she leaned forward and planted another searing kiss on his lips before he had a second to say anything in response.

The two of them didn't need anything else to be said for them to pick up where they left off. Amber pressed herself to him, basking in the warmth of his body against hers. Jaune let his hands find their place again at her hips, guiding their movement so they could spend as much time joined together as possible.

They didn't need to speak anymore. There was nothing left to be said except each other's names as they continued their lovemaking.

It wasn't much longer before Jaune just wasn't able to keep going. It hit him like a freight train, suddenly and harshly. He was about to cum.

Usually that was a good thing, and it kind of was here too, but if he didn't pull out it could be a very _bad_ thing too.

Even if he did think that he really had fallen in love with Amber, even if that thought made him happier than he'd ever been, he wasn't ready for a child. He had four years at Beacon ahead of him, and Amber had to travel. It wasn't something either one of them could have happen right now.

He didn't have time to feel stupid for not having any kind of protection, though. Instead, Jaune pulled back from her lips. "Amber, I'm gonna!-"

She figured out what he was about to say immediately, eyes shooting wide as the same thoughts he'd just had shot through her brain.

Jaune knew she was a huntress, even if she was only a few years older than him she was traveling all by herself and had the confidence to go anywhere in the wilds.

He didn't realize just how _fast_ she could be, though. She squeaked in surprise, the only indication that she'd heard him begin to speak, and then suddenly he wasn't buried to the hilt inside of her.

His warning cut off with a gasp, both from the movement and the sudden feeling of cool air on his shaft as it was freed from her. Amber had rolled to his side, and seeing that he hadn't finished just yet, reached a hand towards his still erect member to finish him off.

And what a finish it was. Jaune groaned loudly, an unintelligible noise that almost sounded like her name, bucking his hips wildly into her grasp before letting himself go and covering her hand in his seed.

After a few seconds of breathless panting, Jaune spoke up. "... Wow."

Amber almost couldn't keep herself from laughing. Almost. "Wow is right." She said smugly, glancing down at her still-covered hand. "Uh..." Well, it wasn't going to go away and she didn't want to just rub it on the sheets either. Not to mention Jaune _had_ tongued her to orgasm and gotten a facefull of _her_. She brought a digit to her lips and flicked her tongue out experimentally to get a taste.

It... wasn't bad, really. Just kind of salty. She fought down her blush, knowing for a fact that Jaune was watching, and quickly licked her hand clean of his seed.

She chanced an embarrassed look back towards Jaune, who was... well, he definitely looked a lot more relaxed.

"You... uh, did you..?" Jaune coughed, cheeks reddening at the question he was trying to get out. "Did you, uh, cum too?" He wasn't sure, but it would be really emasculating if he'd finished before she did. He only got one shot after all.

Amber did laugh this time, a little giggle slipping out from her lips. "I did, actually." She was surprised he didn't notice considering how she was on top when it hit her, but then again the two of them did get kind of intense for a bit there. "Don't worry. You were great, Jaune." She crawled up to his side, pressing herself against him and nuzzling into his warmth.

Jaune smiled, relieved to hear that he hadn't gone and disappointed her. He grabbed the blanket that had been thrown to the side of the bed, half of it hanging off the bed as a matter of fact, before pulling it over the two of them and moving to get comfortable. "I'm glad. I, uh... heheh. I really wasn't expecting this."

"I thought about it outside." Amber admitted, humming contentedly as one of his arms wrapped around her. "And I'm really glad I did. This is the first time I ever wanted to do this with someone."

"R-Really?" Jaune couldn't help but be surprised. "With me?" Amber had been all over the place, even if she hadn't slept with anyone surely it had to have crossed her mind right?

"Never got to know anyone well enough. Not until I met you." She rested her head on his chest, listening to his steadily calming heartbeat and enjoying the warmth. Sleeping alone wasn't ever going to be the same now that she knew what this felt like. "You're the best thing I've ever found on the side of the road." Amber chuckled, nuzzling her cheek against him.

"If I was anyone else I think that'd be insulting." He replied with a short bark of laughter, laying his head back against the pillow and letting a long, content sigh out. "I'm glad I met you, Amber."

"I'm glad you didn't know how to read a map, Jaune."

"Okay _now_ I'm insulted."

"Love you."

"... And now I don't care anymore."

* * *

As Amber began what was sure to be another long trek through the wilds outside Kingdom walls, she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face.

She and Jaune had parted ways earlier that morning, with him starting on his way towards Vale proper and her departing the kingdom entirely.

If she hadn't acted on that impulse yesterday, it would have been a solemn goodbye. They would have never seen each other again. She knew it, he knew, and even the horse she'd picked up on her way out of town could probably have figured it out.

But instead, they'd promised to meet again. Jaune would be in Vale for four years at least, training at Beacon.

It would be dangerous. He could get hurt, be forced to return home, or even die. Jaune knew those risks, though, and Amber believed in him. He made a promise, after all. He would be here when she could come back. They could work things out again from there. They _would_ make this work somehow.

As for her... well, she'd been roaming the wilds for years already now. The risks were just as high, but she was careful. She wasn't a weakling at all, it had been a long time since Grimm of any kind had actually been a serious threat to her.

Well, mostly. Grimm didn't die of old age. If they lived, they got smarter, deadlier. Even a Beowolf could be a threat if it was hundreds of years old and wily enough to catch her off guard.

She wouldn't let that happen, though. Jaune hadn't been the only one to promise they would see eachother again, after all; she planned to do everything in her power to uphold her end of that bargain.

Once he finished his time at Beacon, became a Huntsmen graduate, maybe got some work under his belt... maybe they could travel together again.

Amber felt her smile grow wider. Four years of training was going to do _wonders_ for her favorite blonde. She could just imagine what he'd look like, and the perverse giggle that snuck out of her lips was something that she couldn't help but be a little embarrassed by.

Luckily no one was around to hear it except the horse she'd purchased with some of her spare lien.

She sighed, stroking the snowy white fur of her mount. Sometimes, it was nice not being in towns enough to actually spend money. She built up little bits here and there from clearing out Grimm and apprehending bandits, she never took the full reward though. There just wasn't any reason to, she wouldn't ever spend that lien so it was best served being put to use for the towns.

Even so, it all added up to a pretty decent amount of lien after a while. Even buying her new horse, Snowball as the stable master had called him, hadn't cut too deeply into her funds. It was nothing she couldn't make back in a few weeks on the road... which is where she would be anyway.

It was going to be lonely without Jaune. But she could deal with that.

They would see each other again, after all. And that would be a _very_ fun reunion.

Her thoughts of _reuniting_ with Jaune were interrupted, though. She spotted someone on the road, and that drew her attention instantly. One could never be too cautious, after all, not when you had a target on your back like she did.

After a second, though, she calmed down. It was just a little girl, she'd fallen off her bike.

They were within the kingdom walls, and she'd only just left town a few minutes ago. The girl probably lived there and went out riding. For the most part, it was perfectly safe inside the walls, especially on a public road like this.

The poor thing looked like she scraped her knee. Amber smiled fondly, remembering when she'd been that age, when a little scrape like that seemed like the end of the world.

Well, it wouldn't do to leave her alone.

Last time she'd helped someone on the side of the road it got her an adorable blonde boyfriend, and while her hopes for this encounter weren't as high she wasn't going to just pass by someone who needed help.

Snagging an apple from the saddle-bag, apologizing mentally to Snowball for using up one of his treats, Amber coaxed her mount to a stop and hopped from her saddle.

Apple in hand, Amber approached the little girl on the side of the road.


	2. The End of Fall

**AN: For those of you who are like me and can't take a sad ending to such a happy story... this is for you.**

* * *

This was wrong. Everything was wrong. Beacon was supposed to be a bright light shining against the darkness of the world, right? That was the whole point of the name, wasn't it?

The night was black and suffocating. The air was filled with snarls and roars, Grimm everywhere he looked.

Whatever light Beacon was supposed to represent was getting snuffed out.

Some kind of monstrous _dragon_ Grimm had taken to the sky above the academy, raining droplets of inky black that morphed into even more of the creatures, feeding the already massive stream of them.

There was fire and rubble and ruin and chaos and so much else that it was making his head spin.

Jaune Arc had no idea how it had come to this. Things had been so crazy lately. Everything was just one after another, spiraling out of control.

First the fight with Mercury. Then Pyrrha and Penny. Then that woman stole the broadcast, somehow turned the Atlesian robots against them, and of course the White Fang had joined the party too because why not? At this point Jaune actually had to wonder what else could go wrong, just out of a morbid kind of curiosity.

It was a mess, all of it was just a mess.

But they had to fight, they had to win. Somehow. The other option was to lay down and die, and not a single person here was going to be taking that path.

Everyone around him, from his own team JNPR to the others competing in the Vytal tournament, had picked up their weapons and taken the fight straight to the enemy.

The Grimm were dying, that was for sure, but there just wasn't any limit to the monsters. More just kept on coming.

Still, they readied their weapons again as more Grimm came charging towards them. It was going to be a hard fight, but with all of them working together surely they could hold out.

They weren't going to be giving up so easily.

But then Pyrrha had seen Professor Ozpin standing in the entrance to the tower, and something changed.

Jaune didn't get it. What were they doing? Ozpin was the Headmaster, he had to be an amazing fighter. Why was he standing there instead of helping?

And why was Pyrrha going to him? Why did she seem to be so out of it all of a sudden? He'd noticed her acting strange, lately, like something was weighing on her shoulders... but she'd thrown him into a wall and Jaune figured it was a topic he couldn't afford to push her on.

Was that what this was about? What the heck was going on?

"Where is she going?" Nora asked, confusion and concern clear in her voice. Hammer slung over her shoulder, the ginger girl looked to him for advice.

"I'll go find out." Jaune answered immediately, looking towards her and his other teammate in Ren. He tried to stay steady, keep what little authority he actually had intact as he addressed his team. His leader voice, as Nora called it. "You two stay here and keep fighting." He should be out here with them, fighting with them, but Pyrrha was his partner and something was going on.

They seemed unsure, and Jaune couldn't blame them. Pyrrha was the best fighter of them all, the Invincible girl. She should be out here fighting too, but something had come over her.

Whatever it was, Jaune had to make sure she got a hold of herself before it was too late.

He wasn't about to _abandon_ Nora and Ren out here, not in a million years. But Jaune was the least dangerous person on their team and he knew it. Losing him wasn't as bad as losing one of the others on the surface.

Losing him _and_ Pyrrha, though...

This had better be something good, Jaune thought to himself as he made after his read headed teammate and the headmaster.

He caught up to them quickly, falling into step as their pace quickened. Ozpin spared him a glance from behind those spectacles of his, but said nothing to object him coming along.

As if he had a choice. Jaune was _not_ going to let Pyrrha walk away from an active battlefield on her own, following their Headmaster who should also be out there fighting.

He wasn't stupid. Pyrrha wasn't a coward and neither was Ozpin. They weren't running away, they were running towards _something._ He just didn't know what.

That scared Jaune more than he would like to admit. But he carried on. He had to, not just for his sake, but for his team and everyone else. If whatever they were heading towards was the key to turning the fight around, then he would make damn sure they got to it.

Their path led them to an elevator, and that took them below Beacon's tower, down to a level Jaune didn't even know existed.

Nothing but the sound of footsteps echoed around them, neither Ozpin nor Pyrrha wanted to speak up. For his part, Jaune just didn't know what to say.

Until they came to the door, and came to what lied behind it. "What is this place?" He asked dazedly, running after Pyrrha and the headmaster as they made for whatever their destination was. Polished tiled floors, walls lined with stone columns and lit torches. The whole place had a green tint to it, and it felt... eerie. There was something that just felt _wrong_ about this place, to him. It was ominous, imposing, and it felt like the world was pushing down on his shoulders.

What was this? Why was it under the school?

Jaune expected the Headmaster to either ignore him or explain, either or really.

He didn't expect Pyrrha to be the one who piped up. "It's... a type of vault." She said, her voice sounding choked as though the words were hard to get out, guilty like she'd kept a terrible secret from him.

Jaune almost paused in his step, but managed to keep up. "You've been here before?" That didn't add up. Why would Pyrrha know about this place, this vault? "What would the school need to... hide." He trailed off, coming to a stop before the machine at the end of this lengthy hallway.

It was like something straight out of a sci-fi film. Two strange pods, one standing open and the other closed. A console between them with too many buttons for him to even remotely understand what it was, connecting the two through a whole bunch of other machinery he couldn't even begin to grasp. It looked like Atlas tech, maybe?

Ozpin had gone right to the console on the right, looking over the display for just a moment.

"What?" Jaune mumbled, looking the whole thing over bemusedly. What was this? And who was in that other pod? "Who..?" He trailed off as he caught site of the other person down here, finally getting a good look at who was inside.

Amber. He would recognize her anywhere, he couldn't ever have forgotten her.

He hadn't mentioned her to anyone. Didn't even really know how to bring the topic up. No one really asked about his trip _to_ Beacon, just about his time at home or the present day. And somehow, he just didn't feel like he _should_ mention her. She always seemed cautious, always kept on the move, so surely she wouldn't appreciate him blabbing about her.

But Jaune still _thought_ about Amber every day. How could he not? Seeing her again, the promise they had made? That was something he lived for, something he fought for. She was the whole reason he had even made it here in the first place, and he meant that literally now that he realized Aura was a thing. Without her, his Auraless self would probably be Grimm chow from the trip.

Even just waking up in the morning reminded him of her, because he'd felt complete that morning when he woke up with her by his side, and every day after felt like he was missing something important.

Jaune had wanted to see her again. Some days he'd daydreamed about her surprising him at Beacon, but not like this. This wasn't any kind of daydream.

It was a nightmare.

Something in him shattered in the moment he realized it was her, seeing _Amber_ unmoving in that bizarre contraption. Why was she there, hidden away under Beacon? Why wasn't she moving? Why were her eyes closed? What happened to her?

Her face.

Oh Gods what had _happened_ to her? It was a spiderweb scar, almost burned onto her face, it reminded him of the few times he had seen electrical burns.

Just looking at it, Jaune realized that she had to have been attacked by someone.

Someone had hurt Amber, hurt her _badly_ , and now she was here, under Beacon and locked away in some kind of vault that the Headmaster had access to?

"Pyrrha!" Ozpin called out, breaking Jaune out of his momentary stupor. "Get to the pod!"

He sounded so harsh. Not at all calm like Ozpin usually was. Normally, that authority might have cowed him, made him give up questioning things and just let events take their course. If the situation was enough that Ozpin couldn't keep his cool, then this was definitely something important.

Yeah. Not today, though. That wasn't going to happen, because as it turned out Jaune wasn't going to be able to keep _his_ cool either. "Don't you fucking dare!" He shouted, teeth bared and eyes narrowed in rage as he stared down the surprised Headmaster. "Before anyone does a godsdamn thing, _someone_ is going to tell me what happened to Amber!"

He didn't curse often. A damn here, a hell there. Shit once or twice. Maybe if things were really bad he'd drop the f-bomb.

Things were pretty fucking bad today though. Penny was dead, Vale and Beacon both were under attack from the biggest swarm of Grimm he'd ever seen, a gigantic dragon Grimm that spawned _more Grimm_ was in the air, Atlas robots were attacking their own side, and the girl he had fallen in love with was stuck in some weird machine underneath Beacon and she _wasn't moving_.

If he wasn't so angry and confused, maybe seeing Ozpin with a doe in the headlights look on his face would have been really satisfying. His outburst had stopped the man in his tracks for a moment.

Pyrrha also stopped abruptly, her pause both from his knowledge of the Fall Maiden and the ferocious tone he used. Her leader was typically a bit soft-spoken, even if he could come together quite well to give orders.

Never like this, though. She found her heels glued to the spot, a shiver running down her back as she turned her eyes to meet his. "Jaune..?" She asked, pushing for an explanation.

"I'm not about to just let you guys do whatever you want with the girl I love!" Jaune shouted, his gaze hard and hand grasping tightly on his weapon. "So what the hell is going on here!?"

Ozpin had recovered from the initial shock, able to get over the revelation that the Fall Maiden had somehow come into contact with the Arc teen. The revelation that came next paused him only for an additional second before he was able to carry on. "We do not have time to debate, Mr. Arc. Amber was attacked and has been rendered comatose. Her abilities are too valuable to fall into enemy hands, and must be transferred to a new host. This technology will allow us to do so." He cut straight to the heart of the matter, there was simply no time to play word games.

That was not at all the right thing to say if he wanted cooperation, though. Jaune felt like his vision tinted redder and redder as the Headmaster spoke. "Don't talk about her like she's some kind of resource for you to use! Amber is a _person_!" Seeing the machine, the two pods, the interface linking them, a sudden sickness came over him. Ozpin said something about transferring her powers.

Jaune only knew about two kinds of "powers" that people had. Semblances, a unique ability that some people could unlock, and then Aura that protected and empowered their bodies.

Aura was something like the energy of a soul, or something? He didn't quite know. But Jaune did know that it was important. You couldn't just take that away without expecting it so cause problems. And transferring that from Amber, who was already unconscious, to someone else?

He didn't need to know the specifics to know that he was more likely to run Ozpin through than let him go through with that.

Suddenly, that eerie feeling in the air made a lot more sense.

* * *

Pyrrha heard the Headmaster and Jaune speaking, her team leader more angry than she had ever seen him and Ozpin growing more and more impatient and frantic as time went on and she made no move from her spot.

She knew this was important. Without the power of the Fall Maiden, she couldn't protect everyone. This was the best way to do things. Amber would be killed, but she was already comatose with no sign of recovery. Her condition was stable, but there was no sign of her waking up. For all intents and purposes, she may as well have been dead.

That was how she was able to justify claiming her power. How she could stomach killing an innocent young woman to steal these Maiden powers from her, to claim them for herself.

It had worked. For the greater good, she could stomach the loss of one innocent.

And then Jaune had shattered that illusion.

Pyrrha realized in that moment that, loathe as she was to admit it, the only reason she could stomach the thought of killing Amber to take her power was because the girl wasn't anyone she knew or cared about. She wasn't sacrificing a member of her team, or any of the friends she had made at Beacon. She was doing this to protect them, that had never changed. Amber was just an unfortunate bystander, someone whose death Pyrrha could live with because it meant she could protect the people she did care about.

But just realizing Jaune knew this girl had taken the wind out of her sails entirely. How could she agree to this, sign the death warrant on someone that Jaune was close to? How could she even consider agreeing to something that would hurt him?

She felt pathetic all of a sudden, realizing in an instant how shallow her resolve had been.

And then he'd used _that_ word. Love.

It had paralyzed her. Not only was this a girl he knew, this was someone who had claimed his heart.

That hurt even more than realizing she had only been able to pursue the greater good when it was a stranger at risk.

Pyrrha stood stock still, watching as Jaune shouted at Ozpin, who was just as frantic but for different reasons, glancing between her, Jaune, and the long hallway they had taken to reach this point.

She knew that, objectively, she should get into that pod and let Ozpin kill the Fall Maiden to transfer her powers. That was the best choice. There wasn't any other choice at all, really, except to stand around like a waste of space.

Ozpin would have to restrain Jaune, but that would take seconds at most. Her leader had improved, but Ozpin was someone Pyrrha knew to be out of _her_ league, and she herself could still handle Jaune quickly and without issue.

The thought of how much Jaune would hate her was painful, heart wrenchingly painful, but if she didn't do it... it wouldn't just be Beacon, or him, or Ren and Nora. It would be everyone. Could she really stomach the thought of _that_ better than the thought of killing the girl Jaune claimed to love? Was the life of this one girl really worth the lives of everyone else she cared for?

Unfortunately, though, she couldn't move. Honestly, Pyrrha couldn't even tell if she was breathing right now. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, or maybe her thoughts were just racing so fast it seemed that way.

Ozpin was facing Jaune, Jaune facing Ozpin. They were shouting, even the Headmaster no longer able to keep cool. She didn't know what they were saying. It was all gibberish to her, just as their motions were a blur. She was fairly certain the Headmaster had ordered her into the pod again, but it didn't matter. She wasn't able to move, after all. It was like something had stolen away her ability to.

Suddenly, though, something gleaming caught her eye. The world came back to her in an instant, her green eyes shooting wide and her arm moving of its own accord.

She wasn't quick enough. Standing just feet away from the pod meant for her, Pyrrha wasn't able to close the distance between herself and the gleaming black arrow.

It caught on the edge of her shield, and for a desperate moment Pyrrha Nikos hoped that she had done enough, that she had knocked the arrow off course and prevented it from striking the helpless Fall Maiden.

That hope was shattered as surely as the glass on the pod containing Amber, and the choking gasp that came from the defenseless Maiden only served to let reality sink its claws further into her.

She spared just a moment to inspect the damage, the quickest glance before she returned her attention to the new arrival.

Upper torso, a lung was struck for certain. Not instantly fatal. Treatable maybe. Especially with Aura.

Too bad there wasn't anywhere to treat her seeing as how Beacon was a warzone. And her Aura had already been weaker than it should be.

The Fall Maiden, Amber, was going to die. It wasn't a question of _if_ any longer, that decision had been taken out of their hands.

Her grip on Miló tightened painfully as she tried to drown out the anguished cry that tore from her leader, her knuckles surely going white as she clutched the spear.

The woman in red seemed to smile wider seeing Jaune suffer.

It made Pyrrha want to hurt her.

"Ms. Nikos!" Ozpin shouted, his cane in hand. "We have minutes at most, we must strike her down _now_!" Without even another moment to explain himself, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy shot forward and began to do battle with the woman in red.

Jaune rushed by her, and her heart ached for him as he ran for the pod, wide blue eyes beginning to fill with desperate tears.

She couldn't console him now. But she would be sure to wipe that damned smirk from the woman who had hurt him.

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl. Her teeth grit and her eyes narrowed as fury seeped into her.

It was time to make good on that claim.

* * *

Jaune didn't know how to open the pod Amber had been trapped inside, but that didn't matter too much because he had decided to smash it open.

The situation honestly could not get any worse, so why the hell not right?

As if he actually had the presence of mind to even think that through.

No, right now Jaune wasn't really thinking. He had been arguing with Ozpin, had seen Pyrrha move, and had a front row seat as she tried to save Amber from the arrow that had flown right by his head.

Tried. It struck her anyway.

It wasn't clean, but she wasn't dead yet.

Yet.

Jaune reached out and pulled her into his arms, careful to avoid the broken glass and brushing any of it off of her. The arrow, it was gone now. All that was left was some black powder that had apparently been what it was made of.

That was actually worse, because now she was bleeding out and nothing was stopping it.

Pulling her close to him, Jaune knelt and covered the wound with his hands. You were supposed to apply pressure to cuts, right? He didn't know what else to do, it wasn't like they had bandages or convenient medical supplies on hand, but he had to do _something_ damn it!

She felt wrong in his arms. She was limp, her eyes fluttering between open and closed, ragged gasps of breath tearing from her lips as though each one was agony.

Jaune didn't want to face the reality that she was going to die. He just couldn't. "A-Amber..." He practically whimpered her name, never feeling more like a beaten dog than this very moment.

Things had been looking up. He'd made it to Beacon, made friends with his team and team RWBY. He'd gotten through initiation, had his Aura unlocked, and had been getting better and better as time went on. Before he wouldn't have lasted against even a Beowolf, but now Jaune would pick a fight with an Ursa pretty confidently.

It was progress. He could _keep_ improving. Jaune had thought that would be all the better for when he finally got to see Amber again.

Instead he was here crying over her, helpless to do anything except watch her die.

"Jaune..?" He heard his name, and his eyes snapped towards her face.

Amber smiled at him weakly. "I'm glad..." She managed to wheeze out, wincing from the pain. "I didn't... think I'd see you again..."

His tears fell harder. He tried to speak, to say anything, but he just couldn't. The words just wouldn't leave his lips. What was he supposed to say to that? He wanted to be happy to see her, but how could he when he knew it would be the last time?

"I'm sorry." She mumbled again, shifting ever so slightly to meet his eyes. "N-Not even a day... and I broke my promise."

"No!" Jaune finally bit out, shaking his head frantically and trying to speak through his sobs. "This... it isn't your fault. Y-You promised we'd s-see each other again. T-That's all." They'd promised that, but he knew both of them wanted more than just to see each other again. They had wanted to overcome the obstacles in their way and be together. They wanted to try, and succeed.

Instead, they'd ended up here. They'd failed. But Jaune couldn't bear the thought of her blaming herself.

Amber smiled again. "C-Can you hold me? Like... that night. I... don't... wanna..." She hesitated to say she was dying, even though they both knew it. "Please... just one last time?"

Somehow, his leaden body found the strength to lift her into his arms. His hands abandoned their place over her wound, because both of them knew it didn't matter.

He couldn't bring himself to fight her, to deny the truth. Not when she was begging him to comfort her in her last moments.

But he just couldn't stop crying. It was so unfair. He'd been told the world wasn't a nice place so many times, but Jaune hadn't ever really understood. Even as his friends and teammates fought on the surface, against impossible odds, it hadn't really sunk in. The odds were impossible, but they were all ready to fight. It hadn't seemed so bad, because they could still _fight_.

Right now though, with Amber limp in his arms, Jaune was starting to see it. There wasn't anything for him to do here. No amount of training or improvement would help her now. She was dying and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

The world really wasn't a nice place, and he was finally starting to really understand that.

"... Love you, Jaune." She mumbled, gathering up what strength she had left and offering him her best smile. "I... wish it could... have lasted longer... but you made me happy." Amber leaned her head into his shoulder, eyes fluttering again. "So happy."

"I love you too." Jaune answered her softly, choking down his sobs. They'd traveled for almost a month and a half. It was such a short time, but he'd spent all of it with her and with no one else for company. She was there for every meal he ate, ever night when he slept he knew she was nearby and that he'd wake up and see her. Days spent doing nothing but walking along with her, just talking and joking with each other.

Jaune couldn't have been more confident that what he felt for her was love, even if he'd never felt anything like it before.

It _had_ to be love. He didn't think anything else could ever hurt him this much.

Amber stilled in his arms, but he could still feel her breathing. She didn't say anything else, but life hadn't left her.

Yet. It was only a matter of time.

She was left alone with her thoughts, the rest of the world falling away, and only the warmth of him let Amber know she hadn't passed on yet.

It was such a shame. Amber really had thought she finally got a chance to be happy again. Those carefree days of her childhood were over, and she'd never get them back, but who said the future couldn't hold some joy for her?

The thought was almost enough to make her laugh, but she didn't have the energy for that. Joy, of course, was denied to her.

Amber hated to think that the world was unfair. She knew, objectively, that it was. The world didn't _care_ about you or your problems. Why would it? People were just one among millions. No one got special treatment, no matter how good or bad it seemed. Even this wasn't a product of the world, the constant denial of happiness she put up with. It was just as much good luck as it was bad luck that had put her here.

Cursing the world was immature.

That didn't stop her, though. Amber _wanted_ to live and be happy. She didn't _care_ if that wasn't in line with the great cosmic plan. It was what she _wanted_.

But, well, she wasn't going to get either of those things. As much as it had to hurt for Jaune, and as much as she _hated_ that she was hurting him, Amber couldn't help but be happy, even if it was just a little bit.

She had thought she'd died unable to fulfill her promise to him. She thought her eyes wouldn't ever open again. Instead, she got one last chance to be with Jaune.

It wasn't much time. It never was. But she would take what she could get, just like she always had.

She'd heard dying was supposed to be cold, but Amber felt warm in his arms. And the pain had started to fade away too, a sure sign that she was finally out of time. Everything would start to go black soon. She closed her eyes, nuzzled closer to Jaune and savored the contact, before finally letting herself fade.

...

...

...

Any second now...

She opened her eyes, suddenly aware that she _could_ open her eyes. She didn't feel so tired anymore, like she had to struggle to stay awake. Amber blinked the unshed tears from her eyes, but narrowed them after a moment when all she could see was _white_. It was so bright all of a sudden, was she in the afterlife? Was there an afterlife?

But she wasn't dead, was she? She could still feel Jaune holding her, still feel him shaking as he cried.

If this was anything but Hell, Jaune wouldn't be _crying_ with her in his arms.

Her own arms were around him in a second, pulling him closer to her when she realized she had the strength to do it. He shouldn't be crying. She hated the thought that he was crying over her. It hurt her more than the arrows or that Grimm bug ever could.

"A-Amber?" He asked, breath catching in his throat for a moment. "W-What..?"

"I'm..." She paused for a second to catch her breath, realizing belatedly that she _could_ catch her breath now. It still kind of stung when she did breath, but she could put up with that. "Feeling a lot better. What did you _do_?" It _had_ to be him. There wasn't anything she knew about the Maiden powers that could do this.

If it wasn't her, then it had to be Jaune.

"I don't know." He replied, slowly pulling back from her to meet her eyes. His eyes were red from crying, but there was something like hope sparkling behind them. From his body, there were ripples like the surface of water. Aura, it had to be, and it was going from him and... into her.

"You're glowing, you dork. It has to be you." She giggled a bit, feeling more and more of the pain just _leave_ her but her mind remained. Was this real? Or was this just some convincing dream she was having in her last minutes?

Well, only one way to find out really. She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled the surprised teen down to her waiting lips, ignoring his squawk of surprise.

Pulling away with an audible _pop_ , Amber almost broke into fits of laughter.

This was real, wasn't it? Somehow, some way, this adorable blonde dork had managed to bring her back.

Jaune seemed to notice the glow himself, now, eyes widening even more as he realized that he was the source of whatever _something_ was healing her. "Me? _You're_ the one glowing!" He replied, tone almost indignant as he pointed out her own glow.

 _Almost_. He couldn't contain the sheer _glee_ he felt enough to come off as anything other than ecstatic.

Amber laughed a little bit, her smile growing wider and wider as she looked herself almost disbelievingly. "Your Semblance, Jaune, it has to be." She announced with all the confidence and certainty that he had missed seeing from her.

His eyes followed hers, and he saw the wound. Or what was left of it.

There was still a good amount of blood, but none was flowing. Heck, the wound itself was closing up _visibly_. It was amazing, watching the flesh seemingly grow back together under the soft caramel of her Aura.

Jaune felt a little tug on his own Aura, like what he felt when he took a glancing blow from a claw or weapon. And he realized that she was right, and of course she was. This had to be his Semblance. Some special power that used his Aura, something unique just to him. Whatever it was, he was healing her.

He had never felt more grateful for anything in his entire life.

* * *

Cinder Fall had never been more aggravated in her entire life.

Here she was, just _inches_ away from the prize she had been denied once before. The Fall Maiden was helpless in that pod and her shot had been true as ever.

But the Nikos girl had of course come to her senses just in time to delay the inevitable by minutes more.

Patience was a virtue. She could easily hold off Ozpin and the girl for the minutes needed to let Amber bleed out, the damage that had been done to her Aura was extensive enough that she would not be healing from that wound. Even deflected as it was, the arrow had punctured a lung for certain.

She had let it fall into dust, of course, to expedite the process. Amber would bleed out and the power of the Fall Maiden would belong to Cinder, as it should.

It was quite entertaining to see the blonde one disregard everything and run towards her, though. That did help lighten her mood somewhat. "You know, now that I'm here I do recall that she said something about a "Jaune" before I began to claim what was mine." Cinder announced, dodging away from yet another strike with a gout of fire to cover her retreat. "I heard his name again when I first came to this academy, but hardly suspected that simpleton was the one she was whimpering for."

This enraged the Invincible Girl, as she was so misleadingly called, and there was a tad of caution Cinder had to exercise against her. While she was not a serious threat on her own, Ozpin proved to be just as capable as expected and one didn't become a four time champion of any tournament without knowing how to capitalize on openings.

With half of the Fall Maiden's powers, she was able to hold him off with some effort. It was almost easy to do so, even. Perhaps the old wizard regretted his decision to bestow those powers upon the Maidens now that it was coming back to haunt him. So long as she simply had to defend herself, Cinder estimated she could keep this performance up for another several minutes without tiring herself out at all. Which meant that victory was hers, as it should be.

Watching Ozpin struggle against her, trying to overpower her in hopes of slaying her before she could claim the remainder of the Fall Maiden's powers, was intoxicating. That she was able to thwart him so easily, it was a rush like no other, but Cinder made certain to keep a level head. A single mistake could spell her downfall, so she would simply refrain from making any.

As was the norm, of course.

Still, though, even if she could do this as long as she needed to, it was rather irksome that Amber was still clinging on to life. As the minutes ticked by, Cinder felt her confidence shake for just a moment before she reigned herself in.

She had struck true. Without immediate medical treatment, treatment which they could not possibly provide, Amber _would_ die. That was simply fact. She was not anywhere near pressed at the moment, able to continually hold back her foes with the use of her skill and power. This was a waiting game, and one that she would win.

Cinder couldn't afford to doubt herself, because that would imply she had made a mistake.

Another cane-thrust from Ozpin, multiplying into numerous strikes as he pressed ever harder against her defense.

She almost scoffed as another flaming lash forced him to back away, maintaining her defense. The champion girl fired her rifle, but those bullets were even less threatening than a single thrust of that cane. Cinder simply swatted them away like the annoying insects they were, fire consuming the attack entirely.

Her follow-up attack was made with speed that would have impressed most. It was nothing to Cinder, though, as she again dodged away, leaving a torrent of flames in her wake to maintain distance.

They knew this was their only option, and were fighting with desperation. Even Ozpin was getting sloppy, leaving openings in his haste.

She refused to fall for that sweet temptation, though. To open herself to attack for even a moment was to invite failure upon her.

All Cinder Fall needed was to stall for time. She smiled darkly at the two facing her, anticipating their charge and deterring them with another wall of glorious flame, so wide that it walled the two of them off from her entirely for just a moment, just enough to make them worry. If they lost track of her, after all, she could pick off one of them unexpectedly. That hesitation was all the better for Cinder, it bought her more and more time.

Her wall of flames would die out in just a second.

It didn't matter, though, because a furious bolt of lightning screamed through it regardless.

Cinder was caught completely flat-footed, eyes shooting wide as the flash of yellow pierced her wall of flame. The attack struck her directly and forced her backwards down the hallway, taking a noticeable amount of her Aura with it.

As her wall of flames dissipated entirely, Cinder Fall felt her blood run cold.

"How?" She asked aloud, shaking her head in disbelief. "I killed you! I _know_ I did!" No, no, no, this could _not_ be happening.

Amber was _not_ dead.

Worse, she was walking.

And even worse than that, were her eyes.

Chocolate brown, but they were _alight_ with flame and fury.

"I got better." Amber replied, a vindictive glee lining her features as she stared down the woman that had ambushed her on the road. Lightning crackled down her arms, dancing a vicious dance as Amber let her power flow through her.

The sensation felt better right now than it ever had before. She hadn't been _comforted_ by her powers in ages, instead cursing them.

Right now, though, she couldn't even describe how much she appreciated being the Fall Maiden. The _real_ Fall Maiden.

"Amber?" Ozpin questioned, unable to hide his surprise at seeing her up and about, let alone fighting. "How are you..?" He trailed off, noticing the other form standing along with the Fall Maiden.

"Jaune is the absolute _best_ boyfriend ever." Amber said simply, as if that explained everything, before exploding into motion. She wasn't going to waste any time, because there were too many things she didn't know about Jaune's Semblance. Was there a time limit to this power? Would she go back to her comatose state after he ran out of Aura to maintain it? Or was she already back to normal?

Amber didn't know, but she wasn't going to hesitate long enough for it to matter anyway. The sooner this woman was dead the better.

What followed was hardly even a fight.

Anything Cinder did, Amber could do _better_. She had years of experience not just in battle, but using the abilities of the Fall Maiden, and it showed.

While Cinder seemed to mostly focus on fire, Amber wasn't anywhere near that limited... except by the location, that is. She couldn't exactly pelt her with razor-sharp frozen leaves seeing as how they were underground. But that was fine, because ice, lightning, wind, and fire were _all_ hers to do with as she pleased.

It wasn't three against one in _her_ favor this time, either. No, now Amber got to experience being on the _right_ side of a three man beat-down.

And her partners in said beat-down were The Invincible Girl, who even Amber had caught wind of in her travels, and Headmaster Ozpin himself. The two of them had hesitated only for a second in their surprise before they shot into the fray.

Cinder Fall was no pushover, but their assault forced her into a desperate corner very quickly. She began fighting to escape rather than to stall or even win. The situation had fallen apart the very instant Amber returned to battle, and Cinder knew that her only option was to retreat and start over from scratch yet again.

As satisfying as it was to see her tormentor with her tail between her legs, Amber wasn't about to let the bitch leave this place alive after all she had been put through.

There was only one way out of this vault, and it was a straight line. In her panic, Amber figured that that the woman just didn't realize what that would mean when she turned and made her break for the door.

Amber was really happy Jaune was behind her right now. Not only was he safely out of the blast radius, he also couldn't see her face.

She didn't ever want Jaune to see her like this, a grin so wide that it almost split her face as vindictive _lightning_ danced through her body and out her fingertips.

It was over in an instant. She had pumped as much power into that bolt as she could in the time she had, and it showed. The entire room lit up in a flash of unadulterated power as she let every last ounce of her anger and indignation out in the form of _wonderful_ electricity, a display of strength that stopped both Pyrrha and Ozpin in their tracks.

At the end of the room, mere feet from the door and salvation, was what remained of Cinder Fall.

* * *

There hadn't been time to gloat over their victory, because people were fighting on the surface. They had taken just enough time for Jaune to get his hoodie off and insist Amber put it on.

For her part, Amber honestly hadn't realized that she had been half-naked for that whole fiasco. She was more embarrassed by it than she really should have been, and accepted the offered clothing gratefully.

It didn't hurt that it was _his_ hoodie either. If anything that made things even better.

They had reached the surface quick enough, stopping just long enough to be absolutely certain that their enemy wasn't getting back up.

Amber didn't have to check, though. She could already feel every last bit of the power that woman had stolen come back to her.

That was one hell of a pick-me-up, too. And Jaune had figured out how to call up his Semblance at will, even if he had some trouble maintaining it. He spent their whole trip back topside fretting over her and pumping _more_ power into her. She almost wanted to ask if he really thought she _needed_ this much of a boost, she was walking just fine now, and even that massive bolt of lightning she'd fried the woman in red with hadn't strained her _that_ much. It had become clear enough that she wasn't going to revert, she figured, so why bother continuing to refill her Aura?

Then she saw the godsdamn dragon, and Amber no longer felt the need to tell Jaune to stop. "Can you keep this up?" She asked him instead, hoping for a yes but knowing that he had to be under serious strain. He'd brought her back from the brink of death, surely that had to have taken a toll on him. Not to mention how he'd almost effectively refilled her Aura from nothing.

A Semblance used Aura. That was just a fact. He was depleting his Aura to maintain the enhancement to her own. Even if she needed the extra power to handle that monster, Amber wasn't going to let Jaune hurt himself to give it to her.

Jaune reached into the pocket of his jeans, glancing at a display on his scroll and smiling widely even as they kept moving, Pyrrha and Ozpin lashing out at any Grimm that came within reach. "Yeah. I'm still a little above half." Honestly, he hadn't done that much fighting before he went underground. Just... like, maybe a dozen Grimm tops? And he hadn't been the _only_ one fighting either, so that helped.

Amber almost stopped mid-step at that, but she managed to keep moving with just a slight stumble. "Excuse me? You're _over half_ after that?" That was ludicrous. He couldn't have _that_ much Aura, could he?

Pyrrha couldn't help but chime in, cutting down another Beowolf like it was nothing. "Jaune has a _lot_ of Aura." She'd noted as much when she unlocked it for him. "Where are the others? The surface is deserted." For the time being, Pyrrha was treating this like a routine mission. If she didn't have that to distract her then she would probably have broken down by now.

"Evacuation." Ozpin replied simply, sharp eyes darting towards the Bullhead docks, noting the downed yet still intact forms of the Atlesian robots littering the ground. "The situation has become too dire and the staff are cooperating with Atlas to get those who remain away from Beacon, of that I am certain. A safe zone has likely been established in Vale, James would be sure to prioritize the safety of the civilians and students." He paused, turning to spot the monstrous form of the Grimm dragon in the sky, as well as the Atlesian flagship notably _missing_ from the air. "Amber. I know that what I am asking of you is too much, however..." He trailed off. "That Grimm must be destroyed. As long as it lives, there will be an endless number of the Grimm for us to battle."

It was almost enough to make her laugh, because Ozpin almost seemed to think that she _couldn't_ do it.

With Jaune at her side, his Semblance energizing her like nothing she'd ever felt before, and _all_ of her power back where it belonged?

That dragon was starting to look _remarkably_ like a Boarbatusk right now.

She smiled. "Give me thirty seconds and that Grimm won't be a problem anymore." It was going to take some time to actually build up the power necessary for this one. It wasn't that she didn't _have_ the energy for an attack like that, just that it took too much time to gather. It wasn't practical in a fight.

The dragon didn't know they were there, though. It had no idea, just flying around like it owned the place. All she had to worry about were the Grimm on the ground, but that was being taken care of too, because she had Ozpin and Pyrrha to keep away those distractions. Her eyes caught fire once more as she began to pull on the power of the Fall Maiden, the skies that were once clouded only by Grimm darkening further still as a storm seemed to build from nowhere.

This was going to be a big one.

Ozpin smiled at her, though it was tinged with a fair bit of regret. "I am sorry, Amber. I truly am. You were drawn in to this by forces beyond your control, and were harmed for it."

She couldn't help but nod, almost serenely. "Yeah. But that's fine." Amber _did_ laugh this time, seeing the Headmaster taken aback by her lack of reaction. She continued gathering her power, pulling more and more, certain that she'd gone beyond her normal limit and had to be pulling on Jaune's reserves by this point. "Anything these powers caused me, it doesn't matter. I got to meet Jaune because of them, and _that_ was worth every last bit of trouble these stupid powers brought me."

Her eyes flared even brighter as she felt said stupid powers reaching the limit. This was absolutely the most energy she had ever put into anything in her life.

It wasn't like her first accidental use of the powers, where she had panicked and pulled as much as she could at once. No, this was slow, deliberate, and controlled. She was better now, not some scared little girl.

She was the Fall Maiden.

For a second, it seemed like everything stopped. The world got quiet for a moment, almost as though it understood that a great catastrophe was about the be unleashed.

After that second ended, Amber released the catastrophe in full force.

* * *

Ruby Rose was a blur of red and black as she cut through the grounds of Beacon Academy, slaughtering any Grimm fool enough to get in her way.

It was empty here, but she had seen Bullheads at the docks. That was where everyone was, they had to be evacuating. She had to get there, now that the robots had been turned off and the White Fang was backing out of the battle.

That Grimm dragon in the sky was a problem, but it wasn't anything she could deal with. Just out of morbid curiosity she'd fired a shot at it with Crescent Rose.

The stupid thing didn't even notice. That made her really mad, because Crescent Rose was objectively the best weapon in the world and anything that ignored her baby needed to be introduced to a few more shots from it.

Sadly she was low on ammunition and common sense won out in the end. Wasting bullets shooting the big dumb dragon that didn't appreciate fine weapons wasn't going to do anyone any good, she needed to regroup with the others.

Ruby noticed the storm clouds gathering in the sky as she darted towards the docks, unsure what was causing that all of a sudden. The sky had been clear all night, except for the clouds of Grimm flying around.

It wouldn't surprise her if there was going to be a storm right now, though. Why not, right? That was exactly what everyone fighting for their lives needed, a big ol' thunderstorm to make things even worse for them. Thanks, nature!

She almost wanted to scream, but that would be more immature than wasting her ammunition on the stupid dragon. So Ruby didn't shout at the sky as she made her way towards the docks, she just picked up the pace and endeavored to get there before the storm got too bad.

And then the sky _exploded_.

She almost tripped at the suddenness of it. "Ack!" She squawked indignantly, huddling down for a second and covering her eyes as the whole world flashed white. The _sound_ of it, that was insane, it was like thirty bolts of lightning just struck at the same time. Her ears were ringing from it.

Ruby opened her eyes, peering nervously at the sky, hoping desperately that her thoughts of the sudden storm hadn't made _her_ the next target for it.

Her jaw dropped to the floor though as soon as she saw what was falling _out_ of the sky.

The dragon Grimm didn't even make a sound as it fell. Both wings had been destroyed, and it was leaking black smoke at a ridiculous rate.

It didn't even hit the ground before disappearing, the cloud of dark smoke so intense that it almost blocked out the moon.

And there wasn't a single storm cloud in sight now.

Ruby doubled her pace, tapping into her Semblance liberally now, aiming to reach the docks as soon as freaking possible because she had just seen a miracle and she had to find everyone else so they could tell her she wasn't just hallucinating from the stress.

She got to the pathway leading towards the Bullheads, and if she hadn't been in such a rush Ruby would probably have remembered the time _she_ exploded on this same path, but right now that wasn't important. There were people here, and they were all just as amazed as she was.

Good sign that she wasn't crazy, because she heard a lot of people talking about the massive bolt of lightning that had ripped from the sky and taken the dragon out in a single hit.

That wasn't too important, though, because she saw a shock of white that stood out from the crowd and immediately recognized it as Weiss.

Maybe slowing down would have been important, but Ruby was too excited to see her alive and unhurt to let that thought deter her.

Weiss Schnee, for her part, had been marveling over the random Act of God that had just destroyed the most horrifying Grimm she had ever seen. Storm clouds had gathered from nowhere and then the fist of an angry thunder god had come down hard on the beast.

It died mid-fall, dissipating into smoke before even hitting the ground.

When General Ironwood's ship had fallen from the sky, Weiss didn't know how the dragon was going to be dealt with. The frontal cannon on the Atlesian flagship was the only thing that seemed strong enough to take the creature out.

Apparently, Mother Nature had something to say about that.

She didn't know what to say. No one did, even the professors guiding the evacuation seemed speechless.

Professor Port was _never_ speechless.

"WEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!" A sudden call of her name was the only warning the girl in white received before a red blur crashed into her and sent them both tumbling.

When later questioned, she would insist that she had _not_ let out such an uncouth squawk as many in the area had accused her of.

Once the stars stopped spinning around her head and the sound of cute little birdies chirping wasn't all that filled her ears, Weiss was torn between grabbing her partner by the collar demanding an explanation for the flying-tackle and hugging the girl as tight as she possibly could because she was so happy to see her safe.

In the end she didn't get a chance to do either, because Ruby saw the remainder of their team on the ground. "... W-Weiss? What happened? Yang..." She practically whimpered.

Laying on the ground, her sister and Blake both had been hurt. Badly.

Blake had been stabbed through her stomach. They'd been bandaged, but she still clutched one hand to her wound. Her other hand reached for Yang, tears beginning in her eyes as she whispered apologies to her partner.

Yang, who was missing an arm. The stump was bandaged too, but she wasn't moving. Why wasn't she moving?

Behind them, Nora and Ren, both clutching injuries but not bleeding, seemed unwilling to even look up from the ground.

"Hey." Sun announced himself, stepping forward slowly. Usually a blur of motion, the blonde monkey faunus just couldn't find the energy to be his usual enthusiastic self. "She's gonna be okay." He assured Ruby, kneeling down to look her in the eyes. "The soldiers have a ship ready to take you guys to Vale."

"But Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing." Nora announced, looking towards them and then the school. She winced as even moving that much seemed to cause her pain.

"Look guys!" Everyone was shocked by the harsh tone, eyes locking on to Sun. "Whatever that storm was, it took out that giant Grimm, but we still have to get out of here. There are too many of them left in the school, even the White Fang is pulling out! We all have to go. Now!"

Ren stood. "We're not... leaving!" He _tried_ to stand. It was clear that he wasn't going to be able to do any kind of fighting, not with one hand clutching his ribs. Defeated by his own injuries, the green-clad teen fell back to his knees, a groan of pain tearing from his lips.

It was clear that he wasn't in any shape to keep going, none of them were.

No one knew what to say. There was a long, pregnant silence as everyone ran through their thoughts, trying to find something, anything they could do or say to make the situation better.

Sun was right, and he knew it. They had to leave. Things were out of control.

Ren and Nora were right, and they knew it. Their team was still out there, and they couldn't just abandon them.

Ruby and Weiss both were lost in thought, both considering doing something very unwise for the sake of their friends.

"Guys!" A familiar and _very_ welcome voice cut into their thoughts, drawing everyone towards the source. Everyone who was awake turned almost as one, all of them in varying states of disbelief. For a second, none of them could believe it.

Jaune, Ozpin, and Pyrrha were all okay. They were here, and none of them looked hurt.

There was a girl in Jaune's arms, being held bridal style and wearing his hoodie. None of them had ever seen her before, but they had probably just picked up one of the civilians visiting in their run to the docks.

Her state of dress drew a lot of them to concerning conclusions, not to mention just how exhausted she looked.

"Are you all okay?" Jaune asked, before nearly choking as he saw the four injured on the ground.

Ren and Nora, both kneeling on the ground and clearly in pain. They weren't bleeding, thank goodness, but judging by the way they were cradling themselves he was pretty sure Ren at least had a broken rib and Nora might have the same.

Blake was on the ground, a stab wound visible. It had been bandaged, but he wasn't sure what other kind of treatment could even be given to her right now.

It had to just be basic first aid unless there was a doctor he wasn't seeing around here that wasn't named Oobleck.

And then there was Yang, who was _missing an arm_ and laid unconscious on the ground.

"Jaune..." Amber mumbled in his arms, having seen the injuries herself and knowing exactly what her favorite blonde was thinking. "You can set me down. I'm fine. Just... tired." That lightning storm had taken a lot out of her. She wasn't going to be moving much for a little while, but she wasn't injured anymore.

Jaune did as told, gently setting her to the ground. As he did so, he noticed Ozpin walk by. "Mr. Arc, I will leave Amber in your care for now. I must speak with Port and Oobleck."

And just like that the Headmaster was off, deftly avoiding any explanation he may have been forced to give and letting _that_ fall to Jaune as well.

But he didn't care. Right now he was going to make sure his friends were all going to be okay. He could explain himself later.

With everyone watching him, Jaune Arc let his Semblance flow through him. "Just trust me, you guys will be feeling better in no time."

* * *

It had been a few days since the Battle of Beacon, and a lot of things had happened in that time.

Vale had been pretty much cleared of Grimm and declared safe once again, but it was still tense. Repairs were in progress, and lots of visitors and students were either in the hotels that hadn't been hit or in temporary shelters that had been set up. Residents with actual homes in Vale were either in those homes or in the shelters because their houses had been damaged.

Things were going to get better, though. With the Grimm cleared out, Vale was mostly safe again.

Plans were being made to retake Beacon from the remaining Grimm. Nothing concrete yet, but with the dragon gone there was nothing stopping them from retaking the school.

Amber didn't really care about any of that, though. She was happy right where she was, cuddled up against Jaune.

They'd been put up in a hotel like most of the students had been, paid for by the schools themselves. It could probably be seen as favoritism to the huntsmen students, but anyone who complained just had to be reminded that those students were probably the reason any of the surviving civilians _did_ get out of Beacon alive after the Vytal Festival had turned into a slaughter.

After fighting for their lives, some being grievously injured in the process, a little extra comfort in the wake of the catastrophe really wasn't too uncalled for.

Especially for Jaune. After he'd healed those friends of his, the first thing he'd done was march right up to the professors and ask if there were any others injured.

Of course there were others hurt. Some more than others.

By the end of the night, Jaune had nearly collapsed from exhaustion with under ten percent of his Aura left.

But he'd saved lives. He'd been a hero.

They'd been set up in the hotel room that very same night, this being one of the places entirely left alone during the battle. There was a part of her that had wanted to pick up where they had left off before, but it was drowned out by the fact that both of them were dead on their feet by the end of the night.

The two of them had barely had enough energy to wash themselves and each other that night, but it needed to be done because the two of them had still been covered in her blood. They hadn't even bothered to put on the complimentary pajamas before slipping into bed.

The next night, though...

She giggled against him, the two of them covered by nothing but the sheet. "What has you giggling?" Jaune asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.

"How does it feel being a big damn hero?" Amber asked him playfully, basking in the warmth of him in the early morning after their late night.

"Almost as good as waking up to see your face." Jaune smiled widely at her.

Amber blushed red, burying her face into his chest to avoid him seeing. It didn't work to hide much, because Jaune had been looking right at her when he said it.

He didn't even acknowledge the scars, not in the sense that he was ignoring them though. It was just like they didn't _matter_ to him. He'd only stopped to ask if they hurt once, out of genuine concern for her, but outside of that he never mentioned it.

How Jaune could look at her and not even flinch at the sight of those scars, when she had been unable to look in a mirror without his encouragement, Amber would never know. But she was happy, because even if she'd be reminded of her lowest moment every time she saw her face, she had still won in the end.

Completely, too.

Amber was done wandering. It hadn't done anything for her except make her life miserable and leave her alone to die when she was finally found.

Much to her surprise, Ozpin hadn't even protested. She was prepared to actually threaten the man to leave her be, but he'd just wished her and Jaune good luck with their relationship.

She wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Amber wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

And, as a matter of fact...

Jaune gasped as soft hand made contact with something rather sensitive. He looked down towards the obvious culprit, and saw a pair of devious chocolate eyes staring back at him.

Judging by the look in his eyes, _neither_ of them were going to be going anywhere any time soon.

* * *

 **AN: And that's that, folks. This actually went on a lot longer than I'd expected it to. When I told myself I couldn't leave it off on such a sad ending, I expected a 4-5k second chapter to tie up loose ends.**

 **Then it got to 6k.**

 **Then 7k.**

 **It ended up being like 10k words. I don't even know how. But this is, in fact, the end.**


End file.
